back to article Russian crackers spread nuclear panic

Russian crackers attacked the websites of a local nuclear power plant last week shortly after planting false rumours of an accident at the facility. Internet forums were buzzing with bogus reports of "radioactive emissions" emanating from the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant near St Petersburg and an evacuation of locals at the …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Errrrr.... different...

    "...suggesting opponents of the nuclear industry might have been behind the scare"

    While opposition to such things is fair enough, surely this passes WAY beyond what anyone might think a "reasonable protest"?

    Well, if nothing else, maybe it will prompt Russia to take the activities of their very active local hacking community a little more seriously.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    agreement

    Although I'm always up for "stickin to the man" in this case I must agree with AC.

    Bringing down a website and letting panic insue is all good and well when all thats at stake is a share price, is one thing but when ppl are necking iodine, well, thats a little different!

  3. Solomon Grundy

    State Media

    It's hard to believe anything that any government says anymore. They've all buried themselves is horseshit so deep that even when something is true, the people are in doubt. Seeing as how the commies hold the honor for the biggest nuclear accident in history, it would be in their favor to cover up the entire thing and blame "hackers". If they actually reported a problem people would panic and undermine the power of the government.

  4. Daniel B.
    Dead Vulture

    Re: Errrrr.... different...

    "While opposition to such things is fair enough, surely this passes WAY beyond what anyone might think a "reasonable protest"?"

    You mean like Greenpeace "protests"? It is either some radical anti-nuke group, some really bad taste prank, or some kind of "social experiment" to see how the masses react to such a thing.

    Last weekend a chain-mail went around the 'net where the drugdealer cartels supposedly imposed a "curfew" in Juarez City, Mexico; stating that anyone on the streets would be killed, and it would be the bloodiest weekend in history. Guess what: nothing happened. But it does sound more like "terrorism" in its original meaning: get people to live in terror. Such a prank stating "NUCULAR MELTDOWN, D00D!" sounds like that, especially in a country that's near the site of the worst nuclear accident in human history.

    The vulture died of iodine overdose.

  5. Shane M Ryan

    Got to watch out for those crackers.

    I have heard they are linked to "the man".

  6. Dennis
    Joke

    No connection

    The spokesman for Rosatom went on to say that there was no connection to the emergency shutdown of Sizewell B.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7423169.stm

  7. Aodhhan

    USA isn't any better

    See this report from OMB to the US House of Representatives last week. Addressing information security weaknesses within the TVA.

    www.gao.gov/new.items/d08526.pdf

    Nothing like incompetence.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Crackers?

    So if "cracker" is allowed, how about "honkey"?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Speaking of sizewell, and rumours

    It's not just Russia that gets hit by hoaxes re nukular plants... there was an email+newsgroup hoax re an alleged Sizewell incident and resulting evacuation only as far back as April... one day soon it won't be a hoax, but fortunately Gordon and a chosen few will have a nice safe bunker to retreat to (can we put them down there for a test run, and throw away the key, please?)

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    This is why...

    ...I stick with biscuits.

  11. Kieron McCann
    Flame

    @ Solomon Grundy

    er, did that comment pass down a worm hole from the 80's? Russia is no longer a communist state, meaning that they are not 'commies'.

    Today they are a nuclear armed capitalist state intent on using their military and economic strength to brow beat other states to their will and excercise increasing control over their own population to ensure no internal dissent....er, no sorry I just confused them with the USA

  12. Spleen

    @Kieron McCann

    Russia is currently governed by pretty much the exact same people that were in power during the Chernobyl disaster, so Solomon is only wrong in the sense that they don't call themselves commies any more. The President and de facto supreme ruler is ex-KGB - some revolution that is. The end of communism in Russia wasn't a change of power, it was a rebranding exercise.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Milw0rm

    This hack seems more like a lame version of the 90's hacking group milw0rm than a serious hack. Milw0rm actually did it. These guys used some ddos!

  14. Big Al
    Black Helicopters

    Cyberwarfare

    Whatever the official line, there's a good chance that this stunt was pulled at the behest of Western intelligence services - after all, the Russian government is believed to have, erm, not exactly actively discouraged, the web assault on Estonia last year... This would be a useful way of reminding them that using hackers to further foreign policy is a two-edged sword.

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