Hackers Attack South Africa's Stats Site to Protest Monopoly/Trade Dipute

["Grugnog" <grugnog@tao.ca>]

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Hackers Attack South Africa's Key Statistics Web Site  September 13, 1999
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,1087,3_57012_Ext,00.html



Cyber-hackers[?!] broke into South Africa's official statistics website on
Monday, replacing details of the latest consumer price index with a slew of
obscenities railing against national phone company Telkom.

Visitors to the site (www.statssa.gov.za), which normally provides
information on staid topics such as manufacturing production and gross
domestic product growth, were met instead with a foulmouthed tirade against
Telkom's alleged shortcomings.

"Telkom stop your...lame-ass monopoly or we will disconnect you," the
hackers warned, among other things.

The page is a crucial source of information for economists tracking the
country's performance.

Many of Telkom's unionised workers are involved in a wage dispute with the
employer and have engaged in organised go-slows. But a Telkom official said
she didn't believe the defacing of the statistics website was related.

Telkom's site (www.telkom.co.za) wasn't affected.

An information technology expert at Statistics South Africa said it could
take at least two days to get the site back to normal.


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