Blast from the Past: Hacker strikes at Internet service provider FlashNet (July, 1997)
FORT WORTH -- The computer hacker was not kind enough to leave a name. But oh, what a flair for fashion!
An unknown mischief-maker broke into a World Wide Web server Thursday run by FlashNet Communications, a Fort Worth-based Internet access provider.
The estimated monetary damage was small; the hacker was active for only a few minutes and didn't bother to look for credit card numbers or other sensitive stuff.
But there was a curious calling card left on FlashNet's Web site: a Dr. Seuss-inspired, red-and-white striped hat perched atop the company logo.
"It was pretty wild," FlashNet President Scott Leslie said yesterday.
Also left behind were the initials H.W.H and a quote: "All we can say is, now we got hats!"
Hackers With Hats?
The line hearkens strongly after a 1993 film called Fear of a Black Hat, a This is Spinal Tap-like pseudo-documentary in which a rap group called N.W.H. builds a career around a wardrobe of funky-looking chapeaus.
In the film, the members of N.W.H. say lines similar to the "we got hats" reference left on the FlashNet Web site.
Fort Worth police said they hadn't seen the movie -- neither had officials at FlashNet -- but they are investigating.
Company officials said they have fixed the vulnerable aspects of their server that allowed the prank.
"This is not something that is damaging to our service at all," Leslie said.
News of the hacking didn't surprise rival Jeff LaCoursiere, chief executive of FastLane Communications of Fort Worth.
"They are industry targets," LaCoursiere said of Internet service providers. "What better place to hack than an ISP? It is a challenge -- kind of a bragging-rights kind of thing."
Most ISPs get hacked at some point, LaCoursiere said.
"We have attempts on us all the time," he said.
An unknown mischief-maker broke into a World Wide Web server Thursday run by FlashNet Communications, a Fort Worth-based Internet access provider.
The estimated monetary damage was small; the hacker was active for only a few minutes and didn't bother to look for credit card numbers or other sensitive stuff.
But there was a curious calling card left on FlashNet's Web site: a Dr. Seuss-inspired, red-and-white striped hat perched atop the company logo.
"It was pretty wild," FlashNet President Scott Leslie said yesterday.
Also left behind were the initials H.W.H and a quote: "All we can say is, now we got hats!"
Hackers With Hats?
The line hearkens strongly after a 1993 film called Fear of a Black Hat, a This is Spinal Tap-like pseudo-documentary in which a rap group called N.W.H. builds a career around a wardrobe of funky-looking chapeaus.
In the film, the members of N.W.H. say lines similar to the "we got hats" reference left on the FlashNet Web site.
Fort Worth police said they hadn't seen the movie -- neither had officials at FlashNet -- but they are investigating.
Company officials said they have fixed the vulnerable aspects of their server that allowed the prank.
"This is not something that is damaging to our service at all," Leslie said.
News of the hacking didn't surprise rival Jeff LaCoursiere, chief executive of FastLane Communications of Fort Worth.
"They are industry targets," LaCoursiere said of Internet service providers. "What better place to hack than an ISP? It is a challenge -- kind of a bragging-rights kind of thing."
Most ISPs get hacked at some point, LaCoursiere said.
"We have attempts on us all the time," he said.