OK, Here's the situation...(Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince)

October 2009

Hijacked Web sites attack visitors. Here is the scenario: Attackers compromise a major brand’s Web site. But instead of stealing customer records, the attacker installs malware that infects the computers of thousands of visitors to the site. The issue goes unnoticed until it is exposed publicly. Such attacks are a common occurrence, but most fly under the radar because the users never know that a trusted Web site infected them, says a senior director of product management at Symantec Corp. When his company tracks down the source of such infections, it often quietly notifies the Web site owner. But word can get out, leaving the Web site’s customers feeling betrayed, and seriously damaging a brand’s reputation. Attackers, often organized crime rings, gain entry using techniques such as cross-site scripting, SQL injection and remote file-inclusion attacks, then install malicious code on the Web server that lets them get access to the end users doing business with the site. “They’re co-opting machines that can be part of botnets that send phishing e-mail, that are landing sites for traffic diversion and that host malware,” says the chief marketing officer at MarkMonitor. But because the business’s Web site isn’t directly affected, the administrators of most infected Web sites don’t even know it’s happening.