Large Hadron Collider site hacked

Greek hackers have attacked a website associated with the atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider, posting a message on the site to prove they had infiltrated CERN's security.

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Calling themselves "GST" or "Greek Security Team", the hackers targeted the site to expose vulnerabilities in its security, describing technicians working on it as "a bunch of schoolkids".

However, it seems that the hackers had no intention of interfering with the Large Hadron Collider itself, so people worried about black holes and strangelets can breathe a sigh of relief.

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The hacked website - www.cmsmon.cern.ch - can no longer be viewed by the public. Only one file was damaged but one of CERN's scientists described the attack as "a scary experience".

James Gillies, spokesman for Cern, told the Telegraph: "There seems to be no harm done. From what they can tell, it was someone making the point that CMS was hackable. It was quickly detected."

www.cern.ch