Hackers attack LHC network. Is computer geeks/physicists the new Jets/Sharks?

I'm in Ur System, Greeking Ur Site: Photo by Telegraph

Last Wednesday, after years of construction and months of planning, the Large Hadron Collider, which you just might have heard about, turned on its proton beam for the first time. At the same time, a team of Greek hackers was planning to break through the security of the world’s largest experiments. First reported by the British newspaper the Telegraph, the attack targeted a project website, defacing the website with a long message in Greek.

"Overall, it wasn't very dramatic,” said LHC spokesman James Gillies, “One person's account was compromised. It was detected rather rapidly and dealt with, and it was nowhere near the sensitive machines running the LHC."

The hackers, who called themselves the “Greek Security Team”, attacked a website related to the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment. The website, which Gillies would neither confirm nor deny to be password-protected, relayed data from the experiment and was not designed for public view. Since the attack, the website has been moved within the same firewall protection that protects more important systems.

While the hackers did fail to damage any programs critical to the operation of the LHC, it is not clear whether or not that was their intention in the first place. The Greek message that replaced the website claimed that the attack was conducted to alert the security personal at the LHC to the vulnerability of the system before more malicious hackers could do actual damage. To this end, the hackers actually succeeded, as the LHC has since tightened up its online security.

"We are 10,000 scientists, 500 institutions, 80 countries, and network security is something we take seriously,” said Gillies, “this kind of thing keeps us on our toes."
Yet despite their claims of magnanimity, the hackers almost certainly launched their attack for
publicity. Penetrating a computer system run by the world’s foremost scientific minds is akin to winning the Kentucky Derby on a mule, and the hackers sent out a press release about the attack to several journalists to publicize their attack.

In the end, the attack just became another story distracting from the activation of the proton beam. Reports of the hacker attack, along with similar news stories about the possibility of the LHC instantaneously destroying the world, took up almost as much space as stories about the successful test of the machinery. However, since the world was not destroyed and the defaced website is back up, maybe the reporting will begin to focus on the physics again.

 

proton
n.

1.      【物】質子

beam
n.[C]

1. ;;(船等的)橫樑

2. 秤杆,天平橫杆

3. 傳動杆;吊杆;帆桁

4. 光線,光束,光柱

5. (定向發出的)電波

6. 笑容,喜色

vt.

1. 以樑支撐

2. ...照射;...對準[O]

3. 流露,發出

4. (定向)播送,發送[O]

vi.

1. 照射,照耀

2. 堆滿笑容,眉開眼笑

compromise
n.

1. 妥協,和解[C][U][(+between)]

2. 妥協方案,折衷辦法;折衷物[C]

3. 連累,危及[S][(+of)]

4. (原則等的)放棄[S][(+of)]

vt.

1. 互讓解決(分歧等)

2. 連累,危及

3. 放棄(原則等);洩露(祕密等)

vi.

1.      妥協,讓步[(+on)]

claim
n.

1. (根據權利而提出的)要求[C][U][(+for/on/to)]

2. (對某事物的)權利;要求權;所有權[C][U][(+on/to)]

3. 主張,斷言,聲稱[C][+to-v][+that]

4. 要求物;(移民等)申請產權的土地[C]

5. (對保險公司的)索賠[C][(+for)]

vt.

1. (根據權利)要求;認領;索取

2. 自稱,聲稱;主張[Y][+to-v][+(that)]

3. 值得,需要

4. (疾病,意外)奪去(生命)

vi.

1.      提出要求[(+on/for)]

vulnerability
n.

1. 易受傷

2. 易受責難;弱點

 

脆弱性

在電腦病毒學中,指電腦系統中各個組成部分、界面、各層次之間的相互轉換而存在的不少漏洞或薄弱環節。


publicity
n.[U]

1. (公眾的)注意,名聲

2. 宣傳,宣揚

3. 宣傳品;廣告;宣傳文章(或電影等)

4. 公開場合

Penetrating
a.

1. 有穿透力的,貫穿的;滲透的

2. 尖銳的,刺耳的

3.有洞察力的,敏銳的

instantaneously
ad.

1.      即刻;突如其來地

deface
vt.

1. 毀壞...的外貌;損壞

2. 塗污(使難辨認)


 

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