.pwn_yrself

A recent article in USA Today reported that approximately 450,000 web sites are compromised daily. In most cases, the hacked site’s home page is replaced with a new page embedded with the hackers logo or pseudonym and text announcing the hit. This form of cyber-vandalism could almost be viewed as virtual “tagging” similar to street graffiti on the side of a building. The internet IS the 21st century version of the wild west; some survive and some get taken out. You need to watch your back at all times and only the strong survive.

pwn-yrself.com offers visitors a real hacked index.html page acquired from a previously compromised web server. The visitor downloads the .zip file and using a text editor, simply types their name into the “INSERT YR NAME HERE” sections of the code and saves. Blog or website owners can replace their current home page with their new personalized hacked page.

The .zip file, which contains instructions and the hacked .html document, has been preserved and uploaded to the Internet Archive’s “Our Media” collection.

pwn-yr.self.com addresses issues of security, privacy, ownership, fear, and reclaiming our personal space on the net.work.

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pwn yr.self.com
launch

^screen grab from pwn-yrself.com
^pwn yr.self at the Internet Archive
• Wiki article on the term pwn

About

Jason Sloan is an electronic musician, composer, video artist and professor teaching at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland.

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