Russian virus busters hacked in Brazil

Russian antivirus company Kaspersky was red faced today after the discovery of a hack attack on what appears to be one of its corporate websites.

The incident happened less than a month after fellow antivirus firm Network Associates became the victim of a hack attack after two of its Brazilian websites were vandalised by a group of crackers called Insanity Zine Corp.

The Kaspersky attack, which took place on Monday and was also directed at a website in Brazil, was carried out by a hacker called Furia.br who left a pornographic image on the site.

A spokesman for Kaspersky told vnunet.com that the site is not connected to the company. But he did admit that the site is hosted by a partner of Kaspersky that sells the firm's software in Brazil.

"I can't get in touch with the partners in Brazil who host this site due to the time difference. We do have an agreement with a man out there whose company sells our software in Brazil, but not as Kaspersky. He is supposed to sell it through his own company name, Protagon Seguranca," he said.

However, both Kaspersky's corporate website, www.kaspersky.com, and the Brazilian sites www.viruslist.com.br and www.kaspersky.com.br are identical in every way except for the language.

Paul Rogers, network security analyst at security consultancy MIS, said: "It amounts to corporate embarrassment, which can be very costly within the marketplace. Companies which are global should maintain common security policies to ensure their websites and networks stay secure."

"Companies with satellite offices not all within their core central system run the risk of them being forgotten about and coming back to haunt them," he added.