eBay domain hijacker arrested

September 2004

Police in Germany have arrested a 19 year-old from Helmstedt for hijacking the site of eBay Germany about a week ago. Visitors to eBay Germany were redirected to a site hosted by internet provider Intergenia AG. Initially, phishers were suspected of the domain hijack.

The boy admitted he requested a DNS (domain name server) transfer for several high-profile sites, including Google.com, Web.de, Amazon.com and eBay Germany. While most of these transfers were denied, somehow eBay slipped through. It remains unclear how the domain could have been transferred without the consent of the existing holder.

The 19 year-old says he didn't intend to do any harm and that it was 'just for fun'. He didn't believe the ploy was possible. The suspect, police confirmed, is certainly not a computer nerd. He managed to redirect eBay users with existing tools on the internet, leaving the question of how many other high-profile sites are in danger of being hijacked.