[AdiSinghV12]

If you have been following the US automotive seen lately, you'd probably be aware of the ad wars where Audi used to often get owned by BMW. Yes, I'm talking about that 'Chess' ad that was seen at Santa Monica. And there were quite a few more such incidents. But this time, it happened in India. Nope its not BMW this time, its a 16 year old hacker, who hacked the 'Audi Pune' website last night and its still not restored to default. He suggests that their server is unharmed and it was just to tell Audi to secure their website. Check out the screenshot.

[Adi_k]

Not a correct way to inform that the website is insecure. The hacker should have got in touch with Audi and informed them about the vulnerabilities.

The hacker can convicted for his act.

[anonymous]

This is a dealer website and would not be as secure as audi india website.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Adi_k

Not a correct way to inform that the website is insecure. The hacker should have got in touch with Audi and informed them about the vulnerabilities.

The hacker can convicted for his act.

I am sure they would have not taken the 'mail seriously'. Although I do not advocate what he did as its none of his business who's site is secure and who's is not, but I think Audi got the message loud and clear now.

[chetans]

Very unprofessional approach by the hacker. This way, no one will give him any opportunity to secure their site.

[black12rr]

Originally Posted by chetans

Very unprofessional approach by the hacker. This way, no one will give him any opportunity to secure their site.

Hes not looking for a job for sure .Its better than some neighboring states getting in and ripping it apart or using it as bot network or something .

If you leave your house door open ,some one will rob it .

[Adi_k]

Originally Posted by humyum

I am sure they would have not taken the 'mail seriously'. Although I do not advocate what he did as its none of his business who's site is secure and who's is not, but I think Audi got the message loud and clear now.

Even if the dealer didn't take his emails seriously it's wrong to hack in. There are ways and means to publish the vulnerabilities on the web and hacking the site is not an answer. The hacker could have very well written to Audi (the manufacturer) with evidences and I am sure they would have take this seriously. At the end of the day, its about impact on the brand if not anything else.

This is an interesting case as the website which is compromised is of a dealer and not the manufacturer. Manufacturers / Service providers who have a strong dealer network should ensure that their brand is protected and should take keen interest into what their dealers / franchisees are upto. There is no point in spending a lot of money on brand building excercies and seeing it go in vain becaues of carelessness on someone elses part.

[Joy]

I would like to know the opinion of other members, if instead of some Indian hacker(or more likely a cracker) who left the index page open, some foreign hacker/cracker destroyed the site as well as the server, how would they feel. Instead of criticizing, let's make our cyber world better which is the future of war.

[AdiSinghV12]

Well, Audi Pune definitely didn't take the mails seriously as the hacker posted on his FB profile. This was the only way to give em the message. As Humyum said, they have finally got the message loud and clear!
And I'm against criticizing the hacker here as he left their database untouched! He could have totally destroyed it. Thinking's differ. But that's my $0.02.

Its been about more than 24hrs and sadly, Audi still didn't get time to fix it back to normal.

Note From Team-BHP Support-Team: Consecutive posts are discouraged on the forum. Please use the 'EDIT' function (30-minute limit), if and when the need to add anything else arises. Thanks.

[dre@ms]

It still remains the same. Is Audi people on leave for the weekend? Pathetic!!

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by dre@ms

It still remains the same. Is Audi people on leave for the weekend? Pathetic!!

I have no clue what these Audi folks are up to. Firstly the customers are having horrible experiences at their dealerships and secondly, they just aren't bothered about the inquires they get through their online forms. No wonder they still haven't bothered to fix the website yet. And its about more than 48 hrs now.