Computer security firm Network Associates was left embarrassed after two of its corporate Web site were defaced Wednesday although it claims it is not its fault.
A group calling itself Insanity Zine defaced the Brazilian homepages of two Network Associates sites: www.nai.com.br and www.mcafee.com.br. The defacement represents as a major embarrassment for a company that produces software designed to protect computer systems from security threats.
A spokesman for Network Associates in London, however, defends the situation saying that, unlike the company's other International Web sites, these Brazilian sites are held at a separate ISP in Brazil. The spokesman says Network Associates chose to host the sites in Brazil because it makes their performance more efficient for Brazilian users.
"It is embarrassing," he says. "Our Brazilian sites are hosted by an ISP over which we don't have as much control as we'd like. We're obviously now going to have to look at hosting it ourselves."
Matt Bevan, a computer security expert with his own consultancy, Kuji Media, says the incident should be a warning for other large companies. "Maybe it is a wake-up call for companies with other parts around the world. It looks bad for them."
The page featured outbursts in English and Spanish claiming to have taken control of the company's software. The Network Associates spokesman says that the company's internal network was not infiltrated and none of its software could have been altered. "They just changed a page, that's all," he says.
