Forwarded From: Nicholas Charles Brawn <ncb05at_private> 27Aug98 UK: CONNECTED - BOY HELD OVER SPECTACULAR UNIVERSITY WEB SITE HACK. By MICHAEL MCCORMACK. A 15-year-old boy has been arrested by West Midlands police in connection with a badly timed invasion of the University of Birmingham's Web servers that treated students to a rare view of hacking in action. One May 21, more than 20 students were examining the university's home page on a projection screen when hackers began transforming its welcome message into a threat to destroy the university's data. A lecturer immediately alerted computer security officials, who disconnected the server. Dr Clive Field, Birmingham's librarian and director of information services, said: "We were able to connect another server to the Net to let people know that the university still existed, but it took just over four days before we could bring the main server back online. "After an incident like that, you have to spend the time to ensure it cannot happen again. In our case that meant making several changes to the operating system that governs the main Web server. "Luckily, that process uncovered enough evidence of where the hack originated to provide the police with a starting point for their inquiries." West Midlands police confirmed that a 15-year-old resident of Quinton, Birmingham, was taken into custody last week and questioned about violations of the Computer Misuse Act. Meanwhile, the case of two Midlands hackers who falsely claimed to have penetrated India's nuclear research facilities is still being investigated. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
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