OpAaronSwartz: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Subdomains Hacked
A hacker going with the Twitter handle of @ulzr1z  has hacked and partially defaced fifteen sub-domains of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) website under the operation called #OpAaronSwartz. The websites have been hacked to mark the death anniversary of political organiser and hacktivist Aaron Swartz.
#MIT Hacked by Ulzr1z , (Media Lab Subdomain Defaced ) @medialab @zataz #OpAaronSwartz #Hackhttps://t.co/OEz9XceYTb pic.twitter.com/LfsRy5Vsdh
— 0x50776e6564 (@ulzr1z) January 3, 2015
Ulzr1z has also posted the list of hacked subdomains on Pastebin, these are :
- https://excedrin.media.mit.edu/
- https://dfe.media.mit.edu/
- https://biomech.media.mit.edu/
- https://mas834.media.mit.edu/
- https://dkroy.media.mit.edu/
- https://obm.media.mit.edu/
- https://fabworkshop.media.mit.edu/
- https://scifi2scifab.media.mit.edu/
- https://labx.media.mit.edu/faq/
- https://iml.media.mit.edu/
- https://socialphysics.media.mit.edu/about/
- https://design3d.media.mit.edu/
- https://mitcityfarm.media.mit.edu/hacked/
- https://listentree.media.mit.edu/
- https://socialmachines.media.mit.edu/
The hacker left a deface page on most of the subdomains which said
@ulzr1z also tweeted the WordPress content management system panel of MIT website as a proof :
Panel Admin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, #MIT #Hacked
Acces to all other subdomainhttps://t.co/OEz9XceYTb pic.twitter.com/bWdY6zqcV2— 0x50776e6564 (@ulzr1z) January 3, 2015
Aaron Swartz:
Aaron Hillel Swartz was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer and Internet hacktivist who was involved in the development of the web feed format RSS and the Markdown publishing format, the organization Creative Commons, the website framework web.py and the social news site, Reddit, in which he became a partner after its merger with his company, Infogami.[
He committed suicide in the context of a prosecution for “federal data-theft” that was widely believed to be overly zealous and inappropriate.
Swartz’s work also focused on sociology, civic awareness and political activism. He helped launch the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in 2009 to learn more about effective online activism. In 2010 he became a research fellow at Harvard University’s Safra Research Lab on Institutional Corruption, directed by Lawrence Lessig. Â He founded the online group Demand Progress for protesting against Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
On January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested by MIT police on state breaking-and-entering charges, after systematically downloading academic journal articles from JSTOR. Â Federal prosecutors later charged him with two counts of wire fraud and 11 violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised release.
Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in federal prison. Two days after the prosecution rejected a counter-offer by Swartz, he was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment, where he had hanged himself.
MIT websites
The hackitvist collective Anonymous had hacked the MIT websites last year to mark the first death anniversary of Aaron Swartz.  They had also hacked U.S. Justice Department Website and left a warning message over Aaron Swartz’s death.
The websites are limping back to normalcy at the time of writing this article
