The main websites of both the US Republican and Democratic parties were broken into just as the country's citizens were preparing to cast their votes for the next president.

Late Monday, the site of both the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were attacked.

In the more serious attack, hackers replaced the RNC website (www.gop.org) with a 1000-word diatribe attacking Texas Governor George W Bush and included a link to the campaign website of US Vice-President Al Gore.

A mirror of the message can be read here.

Republican officials accused their political opponents of dirty tricks. However, the Democrats themselves came under attack. DNC officials confirmed that the party's site was taken down because hackers were repeatedly targeting it.

Both sites were returned to normal by Tuesday afternoon, as the country went to the polls.

Richard Stagg, senior security architect at Information Risk Management, said it is always possible to properly secure a website and prevent defacement.

US parties should have expected to be attacked and the failure of administrators to secure such high-profile sites is, Stagg said, simply "lazy".

See also:

Unisys plans to overhaul US voting process

Unisys has joined with Microsoft and Dell to develop a hi-tech voting system to replace the US's antiquated ballot-counting machines.  12 Jan 2001

Presidential bid nipped in bud by eBay

Online auctioneer eBay has pulled an auction for the US Presidency from its site after jokers used it to satirise the real race for the White House.  14 Nov 2000

US workers flood election websites

The nail biting US presidential election has caused workers to down tools and watch events unfold on the web, according to a nationwide poll released yesterday.  10 Nov 2000

Microsoft 'set hacker trap' theory

Hackers who broke into Microsoft's corporate network last month could have been lured into a hacker trap containing nothing more than dummy data, according to researcher Gartner.  06 Nov 2000

Microsoft hack may increase virus attacks

Experts said that the breach of Microsoft's internal network could trigger a wave of increasingly powerful virus and network attacks if software source code, the blueprint of any program, had been accessed by hackers.  27 Oct 2000

HSBC web host under fire over fuel hack

The external supplier believed to be responsible for managing the areas of HSBC's website vandalised by a hacker this week has been criticised in connection with the incident.  22 Sep 2000

Herbless - five weeks of 'hacktivism'

From Sheffield City Council to Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, via Legoland.  21 Sep 2000

HSBC internet sites hacked

HSBC's UK internet site and three of its international sites have been hacked as part of an ongoing campaign in support of the fuel protest.  20 Sep 2000

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