TMnet hacker strikes again

Disclaimer: This information comes from sources that cannot be verified. As such, make no assumptions about its completeness or accuracy. We endeavor to keep this information up to date as much as possible. Feel free to send comments/ updates to the Security News Editor.

The Star, February 21, 1997:

TMnet hacker strikes again

By Wee Chun Chuan and Fran Foo

Kuala Lumpur: A hacker broke into the TMnet system yesterday for the second time this week, altering the corporate homepage by adding the message "This Site Has Been Hacked Again!" in large blinking letters.

At about 11am yesterday, The Star received an anonymous telephone call from someone claiming to be the hacker, who said he had done it again.

In Tech reporters verified this just before the TMnet webserver (the central computer controlling its World Wide Web site) was taken off- line. It is believed that the altered homepage was on-line for about 10 minutes.

Early on Tuesday morning, a hacker broke into the system and changed TMnet's homepage by adding the words "This Site Has Been Hacked!!!"

The second incident took place only hours after TMnet operator Telekom Malaysia Bhd spoke about the first breach on national television.

In a TV3 interview on Wednesday, Telekom Malaysia Telco unit chief operating officer Dr Abdu Rahim Daud assured TMnet customers that a breach similar to the first one would never happened again.

In a statement issued last night, Telekom Malaysia chief executive Datuk Mohamed Said Mohamed Ali said the culprit in the first incident had been identified.

"The second individual, however, has used much more sophisticated methods to bypass the log-in procedure and exploit security vulnerability.

"We are still trying to race who is responsible and what method has been used," he said.

Several hours after the second break-in, In Tech received an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be the intruder in both cases, detailing the reasons for his actions as well.

In the letter, he explained that his attacks were not malicious: "TMnet knows that I could have done a whole lot worse than changing the homepage."

He said that his primary motive was "simply to wake TMnet up" to security holes in its systems.

The hacker's letter said the method he used to gain entry to TMnet's webserver was freely available on the Internet.

According to Mohamed Said: "This break-in is unfortunate but has no impact on other Telkom Malaysia services such as TMSecureNet or COINS, which are private networks. TMnet is a very new division."

TMnet is now test its TMSecureNet programmer, a service being offered to corporate customers, designed to plug into Telekom Malaysia's Corporate Information Superhighway (COINS).

TMSecureNet is expected to start commercial operations by next month.

Yesterday, TMNet subscribers complained they could not access their homepages on the network's webserver which was down from 11.30am until at least 6pm.

In addition, there was no answer at TMnet's customer helplines: 800-9516 or 03-733-1515.