Some Web Servers Are More Secure Than Others

Why would Middle Eastern extremists be motivated to hack the official Website of a Hollywood writer-producer? That's probably what Matthew Carnahan is asking himself right now. Carnahan, a novelist, writer, producer and director and longtime significant other of (and father of a daughter with) Helen Hunt as well as creator-showrunner of the forthcoming FX comedy series "Dirt" starring Courteney Cox-Arquette, had his site's home page taken over by an unidentified group on Wednesday.

When surfing at www.matthewcarnahan.com, instead of Carnahan's credentials and samples of his work, visitors (as of 2:45 p.m. PT on Wednesday) were met by the words "This Site Has Been Hacked By...," followed by Arabic characters. There are pictures of a little girl wearing camouflage and another of the purported body of a six-year-old girl said to have been killed by Israeli soldiers, along with the words, "If You Stop War We Will Be(sic) Stop Hacking."

It's obviously very disturbing stuff, a jarring reminder that even wrapped in our little Hollywood coccoon, real life can occasionally pay a visit.

UPDATE: Hacked Carnahan site was taken down at 2:58 p.m. PT.

Alas, a revealing clue emerged later in the day Wednesday as to why Carnahan in particular might have been targeted by, say, a Palestinian group: mistaken identity. A screenwriter named Matthew Michael Carnahan (different guy, no relation) scripted the now-shooting Universal political thriller "The Kingdom" (featuring Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper) that centers on a team of U.S. Government anti-terrorism agents who are sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East. Whomever did the hacking may simply have chosen the wrong Matt Carnahan. This would seem to make the hacker responsible for this a hack in his own right.

Comments

[A Roving Copyeditor]

>the purported body of a six-year-old
>girl said to have been killed by
>Israeli soldiers

What, you don't think that body might not be real? It's "purported" to be a body? You've already noted she's "said to have been killed," so why the need for "purported"?

[slinkybender]

The reason it's "purported" is the long sorry history of Palestinians and others dressing up the living as the dead for propaganda purposes.