15th April 2000

Once again hackers took the center stage in the international press with the by now famous "Finland" attack. During 24 hours of 15/16th April, 6 international newspaper web sites were taken over and used by hackers to display their message.
Newspaper sites, such as The Times in London, Boston Globe in USA, the Repubblica in Italy and Helsingin Sanomat in Finland all displayed a front page showing a person on a yellow bike and an URL address: www.yellowbikes.cjb.net
Subsequent police enquiries have shown that the hack attack( which for most parts only took place for less than 5 - 10 minutes, before the various web sitemasters retook control of their sites once more ) all came from a small group of hackers in Finland. Police are also looking into reports that the URL used in the attack: www.yellowbikes.cjb.net comes from a server in Ohio USA but is in fact updated from a small town in Tuscany Italy. Some reports mention the town of Barga (LU) Tuscany where yellow bikes have been seen in various locations around the town since the start of this year.
All the newspapers sites affected have since reported "business as usual" and all have reviewed and tightened their security since the attack. Three other international newspaper sites have also reported attempted hacking attacks during 15/16th April.
 
Additional reporting from The Times London ©2000
 

 

 
24Ore Italy
 
Boston Globe USA
 
 
Corriere della Sera Italy
 
Helsingin Sanomat Finland
 
 
Repubblica Italy
 
The Times UK
 
     

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