Cross-site scripting attack puts photo of British comedian in place of Spanish prime minister

Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading

January 7, 2010

1 Min Read

Spain took over the presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1, placing its prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, in the top spot.

Unfortunately, the photo of the new prez on the EU presidency's Website was not a photo of Zapatero, but of British comedian Rowan Atkinson, best known as Mr. Bean.

Using what was described in news reports as a cross-site scripting attack, hackers replaced Zapatero's photo on the site with a photo of the hapless, incompetent Mr. Bean, with his legendary "Hi, there!"

Atkinson and Zapatero do bear a resemblance to one another.

The parody photo was the only damage done to the EU presidency site, officials said. And it attracted a great deal of traffic. "So many people were looking for Mr. Bean that [the site] collapsed during the afternoon," a source at Zapatero's Moncloa Palace offices told reporters.

Still no word on whether a movie version of the hack will appear in theaters.

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Dark Reading Staff

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