January 12, 2007; 03:44 AM Institutions
for higher education and Not-For-Profit Organizations are experiencing
a surge in attempts aimed at hacking their data. The more recent known
examples were perpetrated against UCLA, the University of Texas, and
Mississippi State University. Acunetix, a leading vendor of web
application security solutions, is offering all American Universities
and Not-for-profit Organizations a complimentary website audit through
its recently launched service, Acunetix SiteAudit.
Last month, a hacker infiltrated a massive database from the University
of California, Los Angeles, containing personal information (including
social security numbers, dates of birth, home addresses and contact
information) on 800,000 people in one of the worst computer breaches
ever at a US university.
“There is a general lack of awareness about web application security,”
stated K. J. Vella, VP Sales and Operations at Acunetix.
“Organizations, in general, do not realize if your web apps are weak,
hackers will find a way to get in and steal your data. What makes the
situation worse is that you’ll never know they’ve been in. Hackers will
not leave a trail, your data will still remain there but a copy of it
resides in its entirety elsewhere either for immediate sale or for
later use.” “Buyers could use the data to fraudulently apply for cell
phones, credit cards or to launch cyber terrorist attacks. Whichever
the aim, organizations are duty-bound to protect the data entrusted
them,” explained Vella.
University systems are usually highly decentralized which makes it
hard to ensure tight security. Furthermore, Not-for-profit
organizations might not have the in-house expertise needed to run
auditing software efficiently and effectively, nor want to maintain
in-house testing since this adds to overhead.
Acunetix is, therefore, offering the possibility of having their website audited at no cost.
“SiteAudit normally retails for $395. We are now offering Universities
and Not-for-Profit Organizations the opportunity to get their website
and web applications checked by one of the leading solutions found on
the market place today for free. Our web security experts will audit a
website and issue a full report,” explained Vella.
About Acunetix SiteAudit
Acunetix SiteAudit is performed by Acunetix’s web security experts using Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner. Acunetix SiteAudit:
* Provides an immediate and comprehensive website security audit
* Ensures website is secure against web attacks
* Checks for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other vulnerabilities
* Audits shopping carts, forms, and dynamic content
* Scans entire website and web applications including Javascript / AJAX applications for security vulnerabilities.
More information about Acunetix SiteAudit is available at: http://www.acunetix.com/site-audit/.
How to apply
Universities and Non-Profit-Organizations can apply for a free site
audit by visiting
http://www.acunetix.com/site-audit/us-universities.htm or by sending an
email to [email protected], including general contact details and
website URL.
About Acunetix
Acunetix was founded to combat the alarming rise in web attacks.
Its flagship product, Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner, is the result
of several years of development by a team of highly experienced
security developers. Acunetix is a privately held company with
headquarters based in Europe (Malta), a US office in Seattle,
Washington and an office in London, UK. For more information about
Acunetix, visit: http://www.acunetix.com; http://www.acunetix.de.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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