Ebay.de: web site hijacked last weekend
André Hartmann
I am translating an article from the german newspaper "Berliner Zeitung"
which I am a subscriber of. I read it this morning on my way to work.
Originally it is in german of course and my translation wont be literal but
as close to the meaning as I can do. I have enriched it with footnotes that
provide a background for some players mentioned in the article.
Please note, that the article does not reflect my personal opinion nor am
I the author or anyhow affiliated with Berliner Zeitung. I just read it
daily and I thought the topic might fit into this news group.
Berliner Zeitung[1], 31st Aug 2004 issue, page 1
<translation>
Pirate hijacks Ebay web site
The Ebay[2] legal department in Kleinmachnow[3] is used to a lot. After
all, once in a while fraudsters try to trick Ebay users with fake offers and
stoled identities. This time however, even those lawyers in Kleinmachnow
might be speechless. An Internet-pirate managed last weekend for a short
while to hijack the Ebay web site.
From Friday afternoon, 4pm, to Saturday morning just before 9:30am, the
web site[4] belonged to Frank S. from Schoeningen. At least on Saturday all
Ebay users, who wanted to participate in auctions, were re-directed for a
few hours to a web site showing an alleged internet offer from S. Thousands
of emails, bids, passwords did not reach their intended destination.
Now the discomposure is big. The Bundeskriminalamt[5] initiated an
investigation. Ebay clarified in a brief statement that their own internet
address was transferred to another person without their conscent. "User data
were not endangered", Ebay said.
Speculation is on about the one who caused the web site transfer. The
Frank S. family only learned about it from journalists, they say. "We are as
puzzled as anyone else" said Frank S.'s wife on Monday. What's sure is this:
The internet service company Intergenia from Hürth received a request to
transfer ownership of ebay.de. This triggered an automatic query to Denic[6]
which manages all german web addresses. They in turn asked the technical
support company of Ebay in the USA if it was okay. Ebay America did not
respond which, according to the terms and regulations of Denic, was
interpreted as an agreement to the transfer.
No matter who will be exposed to be the evildoer: mainly sellers will have
suffered from the web site robbery. After all, many buyers were unable to
bid and prices for items did not go up. But whoever made their bid shortly
before the act of hijacking of Ebay.de could be happy about a real bargain.
</translation>
<footnotes>
[1] Berliner Zeitung: one of berlins leading daily newspapers.
http://www.berliner-zeitung.de
[2] Ebay: in this article, Ebay refers to Ebay Germany, that's
http://www.ebay.de
[3] Kleinmachnow: a tiny little town on the outskirts of Berlin
</footnotes>
[4] This refers to Ebay Germany's web site, see [2].
[5] Bundeskriminalamt: the German equivalent of what's the FBI in the U.S.
[6] Denic: http://www.denic.de
André Hartmann
Berlin, Germany
:)
tlagiloi
Richard Hunter
<andreh...@hotmail.com> coughed and sputtered, and managed to
choke out these words:
>They in turn asked the technical
>support company of Ebay in the USA if it was okay. Ebay America did not
>respond which, according to the terms and regulations of Denic, was
>interpreted as an agreement to the transfer.
ebay didn't respond!? i find this difficult to believe!
david
--
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/derbarbier/
(ebay sales)
http://shops.half.com/derbarbier
ten tod labolgcbs ta reibrabred
Lumpy
> > They in turn asked the technical
> > support company of Ebay in the USA if it was okay. Ebay
> > America did not respond which, according to the terms and
> > regulations of Denic, was interpreted as an agreement to
> > the transfer.
Richard Hunter wrote:
> ebay didn't respond!? i find this difficult to believe!
Let's see...Email to eBay asking -
"Would it be okay to switch all of your
German web operations over to a different
host/server system than it's currently on?"
Well, no response from eBay, I guess it's ok.
Lumpy
--
Silver Donuts For Your Ears
http://www.digitalcartography.com