Don't buy into this one, purely a media virus. --MW
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Hackers break into Yahoo, make demands
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Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1997 The Associated Press
NEW YORK (December 9, 1997 2:11 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) --
Hackers broke into Yahoo!, the Internet's most popular site, demanding
the release of an imprisoned comrade and threatening to unleash a
crippling computer virus if he is not freed.
Computer security experts were skeptical of the hackers' claim that they
had implanted such a virus.
The hackers, calling themselves PANTS/HAGIS, got into Yahoo!'s World
Wide Web site Monday night, leaving a digital ransom note.
Yahoo! is a computer directory widely used for searching the Internet.
The note appeared briefly in place of the Yahoo! home page, preventing
people online from using the search engine, which got 17.2 milllion
visits in October.
"For the past month, anyone who has viewed Yahoo's page & used their
search engine, now has a logic bomb/worm implanted deep within their
computer," it read. "On Christmas Day, 1998, the logic bomb part of this
'virus' will become active, wreaking havoc upon the entire planet's
networks.
"The virus can be stopped. But not by mortals."
The note said an "antidote" program will be made available if hacker
Kevin Mitnick is released. Mitnick was indicted last year on charges
involving a multimillion-dollar crime wave in cyberspace.
Yahoo! representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.
Jonathan Wheat, manager of the Anti-Virus Lab at the National Computer
Security Association, said it is at least theoretically possible to
exploit security flaws on the Internet and implant such a virus. But he
said he doubts this group of hackers -- already known to security
experts -- pulled it off.
"That's pretty much ridiculous," agreed Jamonn Campbell, an information
security analyst at the association.
Wheat said there was little reason to be concerned that the popular Web
site was hacked.
"A lot of Web sites get hacked constantly," he said. He said that while
Yahoo! is a high-profile site and should be expected to have better
security than most, "no site is completely hack-proof."
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