Hackers add Soviet logos to Web sites
VILNIUS, Lithuania - Unidentified hackers broke into several hundred Lithuanian Web sites over the weekend, plastering them with communist symbols, government officials said yesterday.
VILNIUS, Lithuania - Unidentified hackers broke into several hundred Lithuanian Web sites over the weekend, plastering them with communist symbols, government officials said yesterday.
The hackers posted Soviet symbols - the hammer and sickle, as well as the five-pointed star - and scathing messages with profanities on Web sites based in the former Soviet nation, officials said.
"More than 300 private and official sites were attacked from so-called proxy servers located in territories east of Lithuania," said Sigitas Jurkevicius, a computer specialist at Lithuania's communications authority.
The hackers attacked both government Web sites, including Lithuania's securities commission and ruling Social Democratic Party, and private ones, such as a car dealership and a grocery chain.
Many believe the attacks were a backlash against legislation approved by lawmakers two weeks ago that banned the public display of Soviet and communist symbols. President Valdas Adamkus signed the law Friday.
Lithuania and the two other Baltic countries, Estonia and Latvia, gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The law bars the public display of the Soviet flag, military uniforms, and the five-point Soviet star, as well as the playing of the Soviet national anthem. It has drawn condemnation from Moscow, but Lithuanian officials stopped short of pinning blame on Russian hackers.
























