Hackers crack Yahoo, call for Mitnick release [CNN]

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

Forwarded message:

>                           HACKERS BREAK INTO YAHOO!,
>                           CALL FOR RELEASE OF MITNICK
>                                        
>      Yahoo December 9, 1997
>      Web posted at: 5:54 p.m. EST (2254 GMT)
>      
>      NEW YORK (AP) -- 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 at about 10 p.m. Monday, leaving a digital ransom
>      note.
>      
>      "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.
>      
>      Diane Hunt, a spokeswoman for the company, said the message was up
>      for only 10 to 15 minutes and a few thousand people saw it.
>      
>      "We immediately took action to see the extent of the damage and
>      moved to correct it," she said. "And about that virus? There is, in
>      fact, no virus."
>      
>      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 million visits in October.
>      
>      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."
>      
>      Copyright 1997   The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
>      material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
>      redistributed.

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