CRIME UT Austin hacked, personal info exposed

From: Andrew Plato (aplato@private)
Date: Thu Mar 06 2003 - 15:03:23 PST

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    Sometimes the crudest methods are very effective...
    
    http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/03/06/HNtexashack_1.html
    
    An Internet-based attack on computer systems at the University of Texas
    at Austin yielded personal information on more than 55,000 individuals,
    including current and former students, current and former faculty, staff
    and job applicants, according to a statement posted on the university's
    Web site. 
    
    The attack was first detected on Sunday when computer systems personnel
    at the university noticed that a computer was malfunctioning.
    
    Analysis of the problem revealed that it was the result of an attack and
    that an administrative data reporting system used by the university had
    been compromised in that attack, according to the university. 
    
    The attacker or attackers apparently used a "blunt force" approach to
    cracking the system, writing a program that input millions of Social
    Security numbers to the system. Social Security numbers that matched
    records in the UT database were captured. 
    
    ___________________________________
    Andrew Plato, CISSP
    President / Principal Consultant
    Anitian Corporation
    
    Enterprise Security &
    Infrastructure Solutions
     
    503-644-5656 Office
    503-644-8574 Fax
    503-201-0821 Mobile
    www.anitian.com 
    ___________________________________
    



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