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YBI site defaced Christmas night
YOUNGSTOWN
The No. 1 university-affiliated business incubator in the world received an unwelcome Christmas gift.
The Youngstown Business Incubator’s website at www.ybi.org was defaced late Christmas night. The site showed a generic portrait of a young woman and a statement below that said it was hacked.
“They didn’t get into the YBI system,” said Jim Cossler, CEO of YBI, 241 W. Federal St., of the person or people who defaced the site. The site was down for less than an hour after YBI was notified, he added.
Since the site provides a link to PayPal, the payment platform, for donations, financial records were not at risk.
“Financial information has nothing to do with the website,” Cossler said.
The self-described chief evangelist for YBI said though the defacing was a nuisance, it was something that high-school students could do.
“I’m not real impressed with that,” he said.
The website is managed by Youngstown Design Works, an agency run by Youngstown State University graphic and interactive-design students.
R.J. Thompson, YSU assistant professor of graphic and interactive design and YDW director, said they just caught the defacing Friday.
He said it’s the season when websites are targeted and pranked.
“This is something I’ve seen before, especially around Christmastime,” Thompson said.
The website was relaunched Friday afternoon.