http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=sci_tech&id=5080494 By Associated Press COLLEGE STATION, TX 3/01/07 A hacker's attempt to get into electronic files at Texas A&M University over the weekend prompted the school to order the 96,000 users of the school's computer system to change their passwords Wednesday. Interim University President Ed Davis said the hacker was trying to get into files with encrypted passwords when a monitoring system discovered the problem with the NetID system early Saturday. Davis said the compromised computer was quickly disabled. The NetID system is often used for services such as e-mail and maintaining student schedules. Officials said they don't think any data was stolen but they warned that if the encrypted passwords were cracked then the hacker could have access to individual accounts. No problems had been reported by Wednesday. "There is good indication that we caught them in the act. There's a good chance they came away empty-handed," Tom Putnam, executive director of computing and information services, said in a story in Thursday's editions of the Bryan-College Station Eagle. "Despite the fact that the security violation was quickly identified and stopped, we believe it is important to take all necessary steps to ensure that our students, faculty and staff are fully protected from unauthorized use of their private information," Davis read from a statement Wednesday afternoon. Davis said the university delayed announcement about the computer attack because it didn't want to compromise a criminal investigation and it wanted to have a plan on how to respond. Putnam said some technical changes have been made. _________________________________________ Visit the InfoSec News Security Bookstore http://www.shopinfosecnews.org
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