Sharon town website is hacked

SHARON — Returning to work after the New Year’s holiday break, Town Hall employees found meeting schedules and agendas missing from the town’s website, www.sharonct.org.Tina Pitcher, the selectmen’s secretary, said, “When we logged onto the website, meeting schedules and agendas had disappeared.” In place of the usual information, was a message that said “Kosova Hackers Crew.” Pitcher said that the websites of other towns were also attacked.Town Clerk Linda Amerighi said that it seemed town meeting schedules and agendas were the only data the hackers had removed from the site.In a telephone interview, Joel Minton, the town’s information technology consultant, said, “The amount of hacker defacement to the website was slight and not a big deal to repair,” he said. “The intruders were unable to take over the front page of the website or gain a foothold.”Minton said the Kosova Hackers Crew is a well-known defacement group that usually targets websites in eastern Europe. “They are mainly digital graffiti artists. They don’t destroy websites, they like to put up their own equivalent of graffiti.”Websites are controlled by content management systems, Minton said, and Sharon is in the process of updating its system. “Content management systems have to be constantly updated,” he explained.As of press time for this week’s paper, the website appeared to be restored to full operating status.

Latest News

Tuning up two passions under one roof

The Webb Family in the workshop. From left: Phyllis, Dale, Ben and Josh Webb, and project manager Hannah Schiffer.

Natalia Zukerman

Magic Fluke Ukulele Shop and True Wheels Bicycle Shop are not only under the same roof in a beautiful solar powered building on Route 7 in Sheffield, but they are also both run by the Webb family, telling a tale of familial passion, innovation and a steadfast commitment to sustainability.

In the late ‘90s, Dale Webb was working in engineering and product design at a corporate job. “I took up instrument manufacturing as a fun challenge,” said Dale. After an exhibit at The National Association of Music Merchants in Anaheim, California, in 1999, The Magic Fluke company was born. “We were casting finger boards and gluing these things together in our basement in New Hartford and it just took off,” Dale explained. “It was really a wild ride, it kind of had a life of its own.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert Cray’s soulful blues coming to Infinity Hall

Robert Cray

Photo provided

Blues legend Robert Cray will be bringing his stinging, funky guitar and soulful singing to Infinity Hall Norfolk on Friday, March 29.

A five-time Grammy winner, Cray has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and earned The Americana Music Awards Lifetime Achievement for Performance. He has played with blues and rock icons including Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton and many more.

Keep ReadingShow less