Hacker hits Canadian Conservatives again

OTTAWA, June 9 (UPI) -- A hacker has struck the Canadian Conservative party's Web site for the second time this week, this time stealing contributor data, party officials said.

Party spokesman Fred DeLorey told reporters in Ottawa the breach was noticed Wednesday, The Globe and Mail reported.

"The information contains names, addresses and e-mail addresses of people who donated online through our web host," he said. "In some instances the first four and last four digits of the credit card were taken, but no useful credit card information was taken and our internal database was not hacked."

Various online posts claimed responsibility for taking as many as 1,719 names and e-mail addresses and claimed more could be obtained, the Toronto Star reported.

However, DeLorey said the security loophole had been sealed.

The news came a day after a hacker posted a false news release on the party's Web site claiming Prime Minister Stephen Harper had choked on his breakfast Tuesday morning but had been resuscitated.

Chester Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at security firm Sophos Canada, told the Star, it was more likely the hacker was looking for attention than trying to hurt the government.

"The whole idea is to basically create chaos and mayhem just for the entertainment of it … and then get credit for it," he said.