Hacker Defaces Nuclear Site With Exploding Bomb Photos

Hackers penetrated the Web site for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission this week, replacing text and graphics with photos of a nuclear explosion.

The organization, which acts as a nuclear safety watchdog in Canada, reports that there was a security breach on Wednesday, Feb. 7 during the afternoon. Aurele Gervais, a spokesman for the commission, says they had the Web site down within five minutes of being alerted to the attack. He adds they are not sure when the hacker broke into the site or how long he or she was there.

Gervais would only say that the news release section of the site was replaced with graphic images, but would not describe them. It was widely reported in the Canadian press that the images were of a nuclear explosion. The Ottawa Citizen newspaper published a color photo of one of the pages that had been tampered with, but the photo is not shown online.

The Web site is not linked to the commission's internal computer network so no critical information was in danger of being tampered with or stolen, according to Gervais, who adds that this is the first time their Web site has been hacked into.

The Web site is back online. Gervais says the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating.