Website Defacement

The unauthorized alteration of a website's visible content, typically by exploiting a vulnerability to replace the site's normal homepage or other pages with different text, images, or a message from the intruder, most commonly documented as a means of publicizing a political or ideological message, claiming credit for a successful intrusion, or simply demonstrating a security flaw, distinguishing it from other forms of computer hacking that instead focus on covertly stealing data or maintaining undetected access. Organizations including Zone-H have historically maintained public archives of documented website defacements, and the offense is prosecuted under the same unauthorized-computer-access statutes that apply to computer hacking more broadly, since defacement requires the same underlying unauthorized access to a system as a prerequisite to altering its content.