Cyber Incident Victim: Canonical Ltd.
Date:
Jan 2014
Location:
Indonesia
Summary
A Canonical Ltd. cloud service experienced defacement of six domains associated with its Ubuntu One file-sharing platform, with Indonesian hackers from Gantengers Crew claiming responsibility to demonstrate security vulnerabilities. The attackers uploaded an image resembling a defacement page through the platform's file-sharing functionality, displaying a message challenging other hackers' credibility. Initial reports characterized the event as a compromise, but subsequent investigation confirmed no system breach occurred, as the file upload was part of normal service operations. The organization removed the unauthorized content and maintained that the incident posed no risk to infrastructure or user data, attributing the event to misuse of legitimate features rather than external exploitation.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On January 21, 2014, six official domains associated with Canonical Ltd.'s Ubuntu One service were compromised by the Indonesian hacking group Gantengers Crew. The attackers, led by an individual using the alias SultanHaikal, defaced the domains, which redirected users to one.ubuntu.com—a cloud storage and OpenID-based single sign-on service. The hackers replaced the content with a defacement page containing a message asserting their motivation: to demonstrate that "nothing is fully secured." The message listed crew members, including Brian Kamikaze, Coupdegrace, Mdn_newbie, and Index Php. Initial reports indicated the domains remained under hacker control at the time of public disclosure, displaying the defacement. Canonical Ltd. acknowledged the incident upon contact by media, stating an investigation was underway but preliminarily characterizing the event as a non-critical misuse of Ubuntu One’s file-sharing functionality rather than a system breach.
Canonical’s investigation concluded the attackers had not penetrated Ubuntu One’s infrastructure. Instead, they exploited the service’s intended file-sharing capability to upload an image file mimicking a defacement page, creating the appearance of a compromise without actual unauthorized access. The company removed the file from all six affected domains, restoring normal operations. No data exfiltration, credential theft, or service disruption was confirmed. The incident echoed a prior 2013 breach of Ubuntu Forums, which had compromised user credentials, though no technical or operational linkage between the events was established. Canonical maintained the 2014 event posed no risk to Ubuntu One or its users, attributing it to misuse of standard features rather than a vulnerability. Public visibility of the defacement temporarily impacted brand perception but resulted in no long-term operational or financial consequences documented in available sources.