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A Year Ago: Web site owner hacks own site

Will Knight ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 05 Oct 2000 07:02 BST

The owner of a small biking Web site in Oklahoma has taken the extraordinary step of defacing his own Web site in a desperate, if slightly comical, attempt to deter a group of crackers who have plagued his site.

www.hoffmanbikes.com was cracked and defaced four times last week and marketing director Bryan Baxter -- apparently pushed over the edge -- finally decided to spoof his own company's logo, posting pro-hacking messages on the site's front page.

The site reads, "Just in case you missed out on the whole ordeal we have been getting hacked almost every day for the last week, by an elite group called r 1 3 9. So we thought we would help the hackers out by hacking our own page to save them some time."

Baxter appears to have lost all grip on reality and has even posted email links on the site inviting members of r 1 3 9 to apply for a congratulatory six pack of beer.

Baxter reckons his reverse psychology approach approach is the best method of defence for smaller Web sites.

Hoffmanbikes is an online catalogue of motorcycles and offers no online financial transaction services.

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