[hackmeeting] Fwd: Italian Police Nab Hacker Group

[merce en grn.es]

Y ahora en Italia.
Es  una  lastima  que  el  euro/transhackmeeting  no acabe de despegar
porque  para  estas  cosas  serviria,  si. no se si de mucho pero como
minimo para hacer ruido.

en fin

M&M


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Italian Police Nab Hacker Group
16/01/2002

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http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,79686,00.asp

Philip Willan, IDG News Service
Tuesday, January 15, 2002

ROME -- Italian police have identified six members of a hacker group
charged with attacking thousands of Web sites in 62 countries, replacing
official home pages with anti-globalization slogans, finance police
officials said Tuesday. The group is one of the most important to be
discovered in terms of the number and significance of its targets,
officials said. 

The hackers, all students between the ages of 15 and 23, began their
attacks last July during the G8 summit in Genoa, which led to
anti-globalization demonstrations. Hackers placed the slogan "Hi-Tech
Hate" on Web sites, police said. However, the attacks did not cause much
monetary damage, so the hackers are not expected to be severely punished. 

In the United States, hacked sites included those of the Pentagon, the
U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, courts, and numerous
universities including Harvard University, Columbia University, and
Cornell University, police said. 
  
The group also attacked government Web sites in Europe and South America,
the finance police said in a statement. The Anti-Technological Crime Unit
of the finance police handled the investigation. 

Prolific Vandalism

In Italy the group hacked sites of the health and defense ministries, the
Senate, media organizations, the Internet provider Italia On Line, the
Left Democrats Party, and pop singer Claudio Baglioni. 

The investigation began in August, when the crime unit became aware of an
attempt to penetrate the Web site of MB Service Srl, an Italian software
company, police said. Investigators followed the trail to a Hi-Tech Hate
hacker and subsequently tracked down the other five. The students lived in
different parts of Italy and kept in contact via the Internet,
investigators said. 

"This was one of the most prolific hacker groups ever seen in terms of the
number of its attacks. They were very expert," Giancarlo Samele, a member
of the Anti-Technological Crime Unit, said in an interview. "We don't have
an estimate of the financial damage caused, but it should not be very
high. These were not really malicious attacks." 

The hackers are likely to escape with suspended prison sentences because
they have no previous convictions and their attacks did not cause serious
damage, Gianluigi Chiapponi, the Ravenna prosecutor coordinating the case,
said at a press conference. 

(...)

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