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Hacker compromises DA website

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA Aug 15 2008 13:25

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The Democratic Alliance (DA) website has been offline for the past week and is likely to stay so for the next, thanks to an unknown hacker's attack on the site.

Trying to access the party's website brings up a message stating it is offline for repair "after being compromised by a hacker".

DA spokesperson Anthony Hazell said on Friday a temporary "mini-website" will be up and running within a week, and a new hacker-proof site launched at the end of October this year.

Asked if the party had managed to trace those responsible for taking the site down, he said trying to trace hackers is an expensive exercise because they cover their tracks well.

Clarifying an earlier DA statement that the attack on its website might have emanated from South America, Hazell said indications "suggests it might now be a Russian hacker".

The problem had been caused by an "SQL injection", which saw the unknown hacker planting a series of diversionary links into the site's program.

The assumption was the problem was caused by the "usual malicious hacking".

Wikipedia defines an SQL injection as "a technique that exploits a security vulnerability occurring in the database layer of an application". -- Sapa