IP: Self hacking

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> X-Sender: ajp () pop glocom ac jp
> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 17:32:46 +0900
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Adam Peake <ajp () glocom ac jp>
> Subject: Re: IP: Japanese Government websites hacked
>
> Kyodo news article:
>
> > Hackers attack MITI Web site
> >
> > TOKYO, Jan. 28 (Kyodo) - Another Japanese government Web site has been
> > disrupted, this time one operated by the Ministry of International Trade and
> > Industry which reported the problem Friday morning.
> >
> > Ministry officials said the site contained an animated image which had
> > replaced some of the site's original content, although they did not
> > elaborate on what the messages said.
>   [ ... ]
>
> Kyodo news a couple of hours later...
>
> > Hackers not responsible for disruption of MITI Web site
> >
> > TOKYO, Jan. 28 (Kyodo) - The disruption Friday morning of a Web site
> > operated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) was not
> > an attack by computer hackers, MITI officials said.
> >
> > The officials said earlier in the day the site contained an animated
> > computer graphics image of the ''Dancing Baby,'' a popular character
> > originally from the United States which is seen on TV commercials in Japan.
> >
> > The image was apparently placed on the site by workers of a company that
> > constructed the site to test its graphics, and the workers later forgot to
> > remove it. The image accidentally replaced some of the site's original
> > content.
> >
> > The officials were initially worried that hackers behind a string of attacks
> > on Web sites of various Japanese government bodies this week may have been
> > responsible for the disruption.
> >
> > The problem came shortly after the Transport Ministry announced that its Web
> > site had been hacked Thursday, the eighth government Internet site to be
> > targeted by hackers.
> >
> > As in the earlier attacks on the Web sites of the Management and
> > Coordination Agency and the Science and Technology Agency, the hackers
> > targeting the Transport Ministry site inserted a message in both Chinese and
> > English criticizing the Japanese government for its stance on the 1937
> > Nanjing Massacre, ministry officials said.
> >
> > The Metropolitan Police Department has begun investigating the intrusion of
> > the Transport Ministry's site, believing it to be related to the earlier
> > attacks.
> >
> > The earlier messages criticized the Japanese government for allowing a
> > forum, held recently at a public museum in Osaka by a private group claiming
> > the massacre never took place, to go ahead.
> >
> > A Transport Ministry staff member discovered the attack at around 9 p.m.
> > Thursday while checking the ministry's Web site, the officials said. The
> > ministry shut down the site immediately.
> >
> > The attack followed several unsuccessful attempts by hackers from Monday to
> > Wednesday to break into Web sites of the ministries of education,
> > telecommunications and foreign affairs.
> >
> > In all the attempts, the hackers were blocked by security systems, but their
> > activities were recorded.
> >
> > When hackers attempted to break into the Web site of the National Personnel
> > Authority early Tuesday, they used an Internet protocol address of a
> > computer system belonging to Kochi University of Technology, university
> > officials said.
> >
> > The hackers made 12,000 hits on the site during a two-minute period around
> > 2:30 a.m. Tuesday using the address, but failed to break into the site.
> >
> > A university official said the hackers may have tried to disguise themselves
> > as people related to the university, and noted that the computer
> > corresponding to the protocol address was turned off at the time of the
> > attack.
> >
> > The computer identification numbers can be retrieved from outside the
> > university, the university said.