Hacker breaches Maine Public Broadcasting's member list

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500202980-500281186-501503620-0,00.html

LEWISTON, Maine (May 11, 2000 1:13 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com)
- Station officials say a hacker broke into the computer file that
holds the names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card numbers of
Maine Public Broadcasting Corp.'s 63,000 radio and television members.

They cannot yet tell if any of the information was downloaded or even
looked at, and it is too early to determine if anything illegal has
been done with the information, they said.

"It's possible this hacker came in just to intrude, get out and brag
about it," spokeswoman Rhonda Morin said.

The hacker would have needed sophisticated software to even read the
data, she added. The breach occurred at 3:15 a.m. Sunday to the
software that holds the nonprofit corporation's fund-raising data.

The company's computer system automatically notified employees of the
break-in through an electronic log. They also received an anonymous
e-mail from someone who told them their system had been hacked.

Officials announced the breach so members would be aware that
fund-raising data may have been compromised.

"We want them to be aware to see if there's any funny business going
on with their credit cards," Morin said.

The station has tried to shut all electronic doors to its server,
located in Bangor, and is taking added precautions to prevent future
attacks, Morin said.

Federal authorities also have been notified, though Morin said the
company was told there is no need for an investigation unless there is
proof of financial damage.


*-------------------------------------------------*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
Intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
---------------------------------------------------
C4I Secure Solutions             http://www.c4i.org
*-------------------------------------------------*

ISN is sponsored by SecurityFocus.com
---
To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of
"SIGNOFF ISN".