Fuel protest hacker Herbless quits

Herbless, the hacker who defaced the websites of HSBC, Legoland and 450 others as part of the fuel protest in the last month, has announced his sudden exit from the hacking scene.

Speaking exclusively to vnunet.com, Herbless said: "For various reasons that may or may not become apparent, I have left the hacking scene for good. You won't hear of any more defacements by Herbless. Let's just say that it is the price of freedom, and is worth paying."

Yesterday, Herbless attacked HSBC's UK website and three of its international sites as part of an ongoing campaign in support of the fuel protest.

Although no customer data was accessed during the attack, because it is stored on different servers, experts said the incident cast doubts over the company's security policy.

Other sites defaced by Herbless included those run by Specsavers and eight local authority or UK government agencies including Sheffield City Council.

Herbless has always maintained that he was an "ethical" hacker who was not interested in causing any long-term damage. Among a peer group who often post juvenile or offensive messages onto their targets, Herbless said he had not altered the data of any website he attacked, and always explained to the relevant administrator how each vandalised website could be easily restored.

In what will now be known as his last post, he set out the following guidelines for fellow hackers:

• Don't hack charity or small business websites
• Don't delete data
• Try to target widely used or very profitable sites
• Try to make sure it is very easy to see why the hacked sites have been hacked
• Try to make the hack 'stick' as long as possible
• Don't steal confidential information
• Check your hacks for spelling and grammar

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