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.
>