If true, this may affect attitudes about e-comm, security and the workplace. ================================= > Davos Attendees' Info Stolen > > by Michelle Delio > > Feb. 5, 2001 PST > > > http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41603,00.html?tw=wn20010205 > > > Some of the world's most powerful business and political leaders > are feeling a bit > less secure today. > > Crackers managed to worm their way into the World Economic Forum's > computer > systems over the weekend and grab the personal data of some of the > forum's > members and conference guests who attended this year or in > previous years. > > Those affected by the attack were business people, government > officials, academics > and journalists who participated in regional meetings held last > year, according to > Charles McLean, chief spokesman for the World Economic Forum. > > "They got credit card numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses, > home and cell phone numbers and passport numbers," said a > source who is familiar with the crack, and who preferred > not to > be identified. > > Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his secretary of > state, > Madeleine Albright were reportedly on the hackers' list > of 27,000 > people, including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, and top > officials > from South Africa, China and other countries. > > But forum organizers denied reports that Bill Clinton had > been > among the people compromised. > > The source said the crackers accessed the forum's > registration > database in Davos, which stored data on "about 3,000 > forum big > shots," who had attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) > over the last three years. They were able to copy all the > records > on that server, said the source. > > The crackers did not enter the Forum's main database, > located at > the WEF headquarters in Geneva. > > "The crackers were spurred on by the fact that peaceful > protestors were kept out of the resort town by the local > police. > Since they were not allowed to protest they were forced > to take > covert action," said "Fillip," a computer systems > specialist from > Switzerland who said he is familiar with the hack. > > "They did not plan to do anything to the data they took, > they > simply wanted to show that they could do it. And you > should > understand that as well as having personal information, > they also > accessed very detailed travel itineraries. If they had > planned to do > bad things, or even throw pies in people's faces as they > arrived in > the country, then they could have done so. They had many > secrets." > > The Zurich newspaper SonntagsZeitung was given a CD disk > containing 80,000 pages that detailed the crack, and > included the > personal data of forum attendees. > > The paper was told that the exploit is part of a > worldwide > "anti-globalization" protest. > > SonntagsZeitung confirmed that the data on the CD was > legitimate, and informed organizers of the forum. No > misuse of the > stolen data has been reported, the newspaper said. > > "This is a case of cyber criminality," Charles McLean, > director of > communications and public affairs for the WEF, told the > Swiss > newspaper. > > "We are taking this incident very seriously and have > asked > external experts to investigate. We are going to be > investigating > this aggressively." > > McLean said the police and the members of the forum were > informed of the crack on Sunday. President Clinton was > not an > attendee this year but has attended in previous years. > > SonntagsZeitung reported that the personal data of 1,400 > members of the forum had been stolen, but a British > newspaper, > The Guardian, said that there were 27,000 victims. > > Alois Hafner, spokesman for the Graubuenden canton > (state) > police, which oversees Davos, said the details of what > had > happened were still unclear. > > "Whether it was hackers or something else has yet to be > determined," Hafner told The Associated Press. > > "The crackers accessed records going back a few years. I > have > seen some the information that was handed over to the > Swiss > paper. Besides Gates and Clinton I saw data for Slobodan > Milosevic, Japan's Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori, and > Madeleine > Albright," Fillip said. > > One of the themes of this year's Davos forum was the need > to > bridge the digital divide, and many of the global leaders > in > attendance said that lack of Internet access is holding > back many > developing countries from achieving economic equality. > > A protest against the gathering, the World Social Forum, > was > held in Brazil this past weekend. Part of the forum was > Webcast > over the Internet. > > In what sources say is a "probably unrelated" incident, > crackers > accessed the website of the Egyptian central bank on > Friday. > > The bank's website, which is now inaccessible, usually > features > billowing Egyptian flags and a photograph of the bank. > The > crackers replaced those images with a black background > and red > text in Portuguese, along with links to several Brazilian > websites. > > "Hahahahha and you still say Brazilians are stupid..." > read part of > the triumphant graffiti that was left by the crackers. > > ====================================== > >
