Hackers attempt break-in of ADB site

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Computer hackers from around the world tried to break into the computer system at the Hawaii Convention Center hundreds of thousands of times during this week's Asian Development Bank conference computer security experts said.

But an elaborate system of computer fire walls prevented the would be intruders from doing any damage.

"We had thousands of break in attempts but no successful attempts," said John Scott of the Compaq Computer Corporation, who managed the computer network at the convention center.

Hackers from Turkey, South Korea, Israel and the U.S. Mainland and other countries attempted to link the center's computers to web pages denouncing the United States and also attempted to launch viruses that could have crippled the system if successful, Scott said.

More than 200 computers were available to conference delegates and guests for accessing e-mail and the worldwide web. Brian Chee, a computer specialist for the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, likened the hacking attempts to burglars rattling thousands of door knobs to see if they could break into a giant house."

Many attempts came from the same computers, an indication that the hackers were very serious, he said.

At times hackers launched more than 30,000 attempts during a single hour, he said.