Hackers hit RIAA website again

The nemesis of the MP3-sharing community, the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), last week found its website under attack for the second time in two months.

But this time it was more than just a denial of service. Hackers managed not only to get into the server and tinker with the text on the front pages, but also to leave a stash of illegal MP3s for download from the site.

The hackers are thought to have broken into riaa.org on Thursday night and replaced article links on the front page with comedy alternatives such as "Piracy can be beneficial to the music industry," and "Where can I find information on giant monkeys?"

Although the front page was corrected on Friday, defacements deeper in the site were still visible several days later. One fake article read: "With the legal file-sharing service Kazaa still online, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today announced that it intends to offer the latest albums for download from riaa.org.

"Of course the list is relatively small, but please be patient - we expect to offer over 300 next week," the article continued, before offering links to 20 Linkin Park songs hosted on the RIAA's own server.

By Monday the remaining evidence of the hack had been removed. No one had claimed responsibility for the intrusion at the time of going to press.