Library of Congress Web site hacked

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Forwarded From: Nelson Murilo <nelson () pangeia com br>

[http://www.infoworld.com/articles/en/xml/00/01/18/000118enlibrary.xml]

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2000 1:11 pm PT
Library of Congress Web site hacked
By Jack McCarthy

Hackers broke into the U.S. Library of Congress government affairs Web
site on Monday and altered it with their own text, federal officials
confirmed Tuesday.

The hackers changed the site to read, "U.S. Congress Web site --
defeated!" Helen Dalrymple, a public affairs specialist for the Library of
Congress, which administers the site, said Tuesday.

The group identified itself on the site as the "Lamers Team," and
identified its members as "four hackers from a little country in Europe,"
Dalrymple said. She declined further comment.

The site, called "Thomas," offers information on congressional activities,
including the status of legislation, the Congressional Record, and
committee news.

In a brief statement released this afternoon, the Library of Congress
estimated the Thomas home page was defaced for about 90 minutes, starting
at 6 p.m. Monday. Staffers discovered the problem at about 7 p.m. and
blocked Internet access to the Thomas system at about 7:20 p.m.

The site's network and computer security system is under review and the
incident is being investigated, the statement said.

The attack was the latest of several against government Web sites.
Vandals have altered Web sites of the White House, the FBI, the Senate,
and the Army.

The Library of Congress, in Washington, is at www.loc.gov. The Thomas Web
site can be reached at thomas.loc.gov.

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