FYI
><H1>CIA, attacked, pulls plug on Internet site</H1>
>WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Central Intelligence Agency, that bastion of spy
technology and computer wizardry, pulled the plug on its World Wide Web site
on the Internet Thursday after a hacker broke in and replaced it with a
crude parody.<P>
>
>CIA officials said their vandalized homepage -- altered to read ``Welcome
to the Central Stupidity Agency'' -- was in no way linked to any mainframe
computers containing classified national security information.<P>
>
>The site was tampered with Wednesday evening and the CIA closed it Thursday
morning while a task force looked into the security breach, CIA spokeswoman
Jane Heishman said. Part of the hacker's text read ``Stop Lying.''<P>
>
>``It's definitely a hacker'' who pierced the system's security, she said.
``The agency has formed a task force to look into what happend and how to
prevent it.''<P>
>
>The CIA web site (http://www.odci.gov/cia) showcases unclassified
information including spy agency press releases, officials' speeches,
historical rundowns and the CIA's World Fact Book, a standard reference work.<P>
>
>The cyber-attack matched one that forced the Justice Department to close
its Web site last month after hackers inserted a swastika and picture of
Adolph Hitler. The penetration of the CIA homepage highlighted the
vulnerability of Internet sites designed to attract the public and drove
home the need for multiple layers of security.<P>
>
>``You want people to visit, you want them to interact, but you don't want
them to leave anything behind,'' said Jon Englund of the Information
Technology Association of America, a trade group of leading software and
telecommunications firms.<P>
LOL
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