Photobucket Hacked Again

On the 17th, some Internet users started getting a weird message when trying to view Photobucket images posted on forums (including our own). Per ZDNet, this was the result of a Turkish hacking group hijacked traffic from some Photobucket hosted images to a small message proclaiming their responsibility in the attack if the image error message was clicked on. There have been reports of Trojans attacking computers when the hijacking message was accessed. It is recommended you use a reputable anti-virus software such as Norton, Kaspersky, or McAfee to scan for trouble.

Currently, users still getting the Photobucket error and clicking on the error message are redirected to a message from the server host used in the attack, Zettahost. The new message advises they are not to blame and that they are cooperating with Photobucket to correct persistent issues.

The message is:
"IMPORTANT! Photobucket.com problem read here: Last night Photobucket.com DNS at register.com was hacked by malicious people that are trying to compromise our business! We are in no way affiliated with such bad deeds and cooperate with photobucket in capturing these individuals. They have pointed the domain photobucket.com to an account hosted on our systems! We have blocked that and photobucked techs have restored the domain pointing to its original location! ALL account information and pictures on photobucket.com are OK, please have patience! Unfortunately the complete DNS replication usually takes 24-48 hours and during this time caches DNS records might still point to us! The normal operation of Photobucket is restored and as soon as the replication is complete there should be no further such issues! We would like to emphasize that we are in now way responsible for what happens with photobucket and all users bumping across our systems! We are a legitimate web hosting company operating since 2003 and in no way tolerate such hacking attempts! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at abuse@zettahost.com! Thanks for your patience and understanding!"

This is the latest in several hacking attacks on Photobucket in the last few months. While Photobucket's initial response seemed good, as time passes the lack of public announcement (other than on support forums) and quick action are becoming worrisome. I have previously ranked Photobucket as 2nd on my list of photo sharing site picks but if this trend continues I doubt I will be able to continue to suggest them as a viable photo sharing host.

This latest attack highlights many of the issues with a high-profile site like Photobucket. The higher the profile and the more users one has, the juicier the target to hackers. Photo sharing sites have long been mostly ignored by hackers but if the climate is changing, it may truly be time to consider a paid hosting service that may be more responsive to problems.