Interruption in Important Information
Schaefer said the attack prevented emergency management officials nationwide from using the Web site to check the center’s forecast today for thunderstorms and tornadoes.
     “The Internet is an unofficial way to distribute that information, but a lot of people have come to rely on it,” Schaefer said. “It’s a quick, easy way to get data.”
     The weather service attack was first reported by the Attrition Internet service, which tracks hacker activities.
     The Army said it replaced the altered page at the www.army.mil site early Monday and said no internal systems were otherwise affected.
     “There were no security breaches,” Army spokesman Jim Stueve said.

Sometime Sunday Night
Administrators believe the hackers hit between 8 p.m. Sunday and 5 a.m. Monday. Stueve said the site was repaired within one hour.
     The vandalized page announced that the attack “has a purpose ... to settle rumors” about the demise of the loosely organized hacker group that also claimed responsibility for a similar attack on the White House site last month.
     Another message hidden within the altered page’s computer code urged people who saw it to “trust very few people.”
     The attack comes just months after Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre announced stepped-up internal security procedures to protect against hackers, but Monday’s electronic break-in apparently took advantage of a flaw in commercial, off-the-shelf software.

Company Warned of Hole
The Army’s computers use popular Internet software from Allaire Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., which warned customers in an e-mail security bulletin as recently as May 19 to remove sample programs and computer code installed by default into a particular directory created by its software.
     It also urged customers to completely remove the vulnerable directory, but a security notice currently on the Army’s Web site indicates that directory still exists on its computers and remains actively used.
     The “Cold Fusion” flaw drew widespread attention among computer security experts, especially after hackers distributed step-by-step instructions on exploiting the software problem.
     The Army said only that it was investigating the attack. The FBI, which normally investigates electronic assaults against government systems, said the matter had been turned over to the appropriate authorities but declined to say whether it was involved in the probe.