-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18787.html <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18787.html">Political News from Wired News</A> ----- updated 9:00 a.m. 30.Mar.99.PST Did Russians Get Whitehouse.gov? by Declan McCullagh 3:00 a.m. 29.Mar.99.PST WASHINGTON -- The official White House Web site was offline all day Sunday in what appeared to be its most serious outage to date. A Russian online newspaper reported that anti-NATO crackers were responsible, but a source close to whitehouse.gov blamed a hardware failure. The site was down until about 10 a.m. EST Monday. Vistors were unable to connect, although email to and from whitehouse.gov continued to work. "They have a problem that is not related to an external attack," the source said Sunday. The White House is a popular target for cracking attempts, but no content on the site has ever been altered. Dozens of break-in attempts happen every day, the source said. On Sunday, a number of other Web sites found their home pages replaced with identical protests of US and NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. "Russian hackers demand to stop terrorist aggression against Jugoslavia!" said one message on a Web site operated by Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California. Another note on the same page: "To Adolf Clinton: FUCK OUT, looser!! Go fucks Monica!" Other sites that boasted the same message included cfmsd.com and darkarmies.com. The Moscow-based Gazeta.Ru online newspaper said Russian crackers had broken into those sites -- and had pulled the plug on whitehouse.gov too. "Russian computer crime authorities, contacted by the newspaper, declared that they would confront these hacking attacks with same severity as they would have done in any other case of unauthorised penetration into computer networks (punishable under section 272 of Russia's Penal Code, 1997). But the authorities went on to stress, that 'no complaint was filed so far from the American side, which would be necessary for us to start any sort of proceedings,'" Anton Nossik, who wrote the article, told Wired News in an email message. Security experts said whitehouse.gov was likely offline for one of three reasons: A compromised router, a hardware failure, or a denial-of-service attack in which the server is overloaded by attackers. Peter Shipley, the chief security architect for KPMG, said there's no easy defense against denial-of-service attacks. Once recognized, however, they can be dealt with within minutes or hours. Shipley also said it was unlikely a hardware failure by itself would bring a site like whitehouse.gov down for a day or more. "You can bring a router back online rather easily," he said. "It's hard to believe a router would keep a site down for 24 hours." PSI.net, which provides the White House's link to the outside world, did not immediately return phone calls late Sunday. Neither did a White House spokesman. Related Wired Links: Closing the Window on the War 29.Mar.99 Yugoslav Net at the Brink 26.Mar.99 Email Assist for Yugoslavs 26.Mar.99 Net Dispatches from Kosovo's War 26.Mar.99 Do-it-Yourself News 26.Mar.99 Kosovo Won't Be Televised 24.Mar.99 Send us feedback | Work at Wired Digital | Advertise with us About Wired Digital | Our Privacy Policy Copyright � 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
