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Computing

Hackers hit government Web sites after China embassy bombing

hackers

RELATED VIDEO
CNN's Ann Kellan reports on the increase in Web site protests following the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy.
Windows Media 28K 80K

  

May 11, 1999
Web posted at: 12:03 a.m. EDT (0403 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Computer hackers protesting NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade have attacked three U.S. government Web sites, government officials tell CNN.

The main Internet sites for the Energy and Interior departments and the National Park Service were hacked Sunday.

The hackers planted messages condemning the bombing, prompting at least one Cabinet site to remain closed all day Monday.

Hackers inserted protest messages into the agencies' home pages. The pictures of three Chinese journalists who died in the bombing were briefly posted on the Interior Department Web page.

The Interior and Park Service sites experienced only brief disruption.

But the Energy Department site was closed throughout Monday, for what a DOE spokesman called an investigation into the hacking episode.

Sub-sites for Energy Department programs, protected by electronic firewalls, were not affected, the spokesman said.

John Gilligan, chief Energy information officer, said his agency would seek to upgrade security on its Web site.

A White House spokesman told CNN that the whitehouse.gov site endured an unusual level of activity this weekend.

The White House site briefly went off line before 6 a.m. ET Monday morning, but the outage was due to an equipment failure, not computer hackers, the spokesman said.

However, a respected member of the hacking community told CNN that the site was shut down automatically when a hacker tried to sneak a message onto the site.

Science Correspondent Ann Kellan contributed to this report.


CNN INDEPTH SPECIALS:
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Clinton apologizes to China over embassy bombing
May 10, 1999
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Firms say hacker cost them $291 million
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DOD overhauls network to thwart hackers
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RELATED SITES:
United States Department of Energy
 •  Office of Safeguards and Security
United States Department of the Interior
United States Department of Labor
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