http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521958 By ABBY D. PHILLIP Crimson Staff Writer February 19, 2008 Hackers broke into the Web site of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences this weekend and posted secure information to an online peer-to-peer network. The user kaboom73 uploaded the 125-megabyte filewhich contained the site administrators secure user name and password, a back-up of the sites server, site databases, and contact databasesto the torrent site Pirate Bay on Saturday. At 8 p.m. yesterday evening, 30 seeders were distributing the files while 16 leechers were downloading them. Likely in response to this breach, the GSAS site was shut down. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Information Technology office could not be reached for comment. The uploaded file was accompanied by a message from the sites hacker stating that the information was released to expose the vulnerability of Harvards servers. Maybe you dont like it but this is to demonstrate that persons like [the site administrator]...dont know how to secure a web site, the message read in broken English. Thomas Gatton, FAS systems administrator and user support specialist, could not be reached for comment. The weekends incident was described as a major security breach by the Web site Torrentfreak.com, which first reported the incident. FAS servers were breached multiple times in the summer of 2003 in episodes that were traced to Brazilian hackers. Hackers again broke into university Web sites in 2005, when they distributed secure admissions information from top business schools, including Harvard Business School. Staff writer Abby D. Phillip can be reached at adphill (at) fas.harvard.edu. Copyright 2008, The Harvard Crimson, Inc. ___________________________________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/mailman/listinfo/isn
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