BERKELEY CRACKER STEALS THOUSANDS OF PASSWORDS
A malicious hacker using a computer in the
University of California at Berkeley's mathematics
department this summer has managed to crack
47,642 passwords of computer users around the
world, using a software program called "John
the Ripper," according to a report by the
CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon
University. "This is a very large attack,"
says Calvin Moore, chairman of Berkeley's
mathematics department. "This is obviously
somebody who invested a lot of time." The
Federal Bureau of Investigation is
investigating the attack. Some of the
affected computers are located at U.S.
universities, including the California
Institute of Technology, Harvard University,
and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Officials at Berkeley have now changed the
departmental passwords that had been compromised
and notified users. "I'm not aware that we
suffered any damage or had any files stolen,"
says Moore. (Chronicle of Higher
Education 11 Sep 98)