Network Associates suffers twin hacking

Computer security giant Network Associates has become a victim of cybercrime, after two of its corporate websites were hacked.

Two of the company's Brazilian websites, www.nai.com.br and www.mcafee.com.br, were vandalised this week by a group of crackers called Insanity Zine Corp.

Front pages on both sites were replaced with rants from the crackers in English and Portuguese.

The pages showed the Network Associates logo and stated: "And their antivirus software are (sic) owned too!" and "god save the script kiddies".

Matt Tomlinson, business development director at security consultant MIS, said: "It's very embarrassing for them. Firstly, they are an antivirus company - everyone associates them with this. Security is not just about antivirus - antivirus does nothing to stop people accessing your site and damaging your reputation."Tomlinson added: "Network Associates has spent a lot of marketing pounds reinventing itself as an all-embracing security company. So if they truly understand all these things, such as firewalls and so on, then why has their site been hacked? It really is a kick in the proverbials."

However, Sharon Saw, of Saw IT, said that while it had been imprudent for Network Associates not to cover itself properly, it was inevitable that a security company was going to be hacked at some point.

"By declaring yourself an expert on security, you are inviting the attention of some would-be hacker," Saw said.