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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Hacker crashes government sites | Hacker crashes government sites |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| A hacker crashed a number of Northern Ireland government websites last week, BBC News has learned. | A hacker crashed a number of Northern Ireland government websites last week, BBC News has learned. |
| The websites, including the Planning Service's, were out of action for a number of days while the attack was investigated. | The websites, including the Planning Service's, were out of action for a number of days while the attack was investigated. |
| A Department of the Environment (DoE) spokesman said no information had been "lost or damaged" as a result of the hacker's activities. | A Department of the Environment (DoE) spokesman said no information had been "lost or damaged" as a result of the hacker's activities. |
| The Planning Service's website has now been reinstated. | The Planning Service's website has now been reinstated. |
| "Over the weekend of 2-3 February an attempt was made to hack into a web server, owned and maintained by the Northern Ireland Civil Service's IT Shared Service Centre, which hosts a number of government websites including Planning Service's," said the DoE spokeswoman. | "Over the weekend of 2-3 February an attempt was made to hack into a web server, owned and maintained by the Northern Ireland Civil Service's IT Shared Service Centre, which hosts a number of government websites including Planning Service's," said the DoE spokeswoman. |
| "The security systems in place identified this activity and the server was immediately shut down." | "The security systems in place identified this activity and the server was immediately shut down." |
| The Planning Service's website contains, among other things, information about planning applications being made across Northern Ireland's 26 council areas.No information was "lost or damaged" | |
| Environment Minister Arlene Foster said she only learned of the security breach on Monday night. | Environment Minister Arlene Foster said she only learned of the security breach on Monday night. |
| "It is very concerning to hear of people being able to hack into government sites," she said. | "It is very concerning to hear of people being able to hack into government sites," she said. |
| "Obviously it is something that the government will have to review, just as we did with our data. | "Obviously it is something that the government will have to review, just as we did with our data. |
| "This is another issue which we are going to have to look at very seriously." | "This is another issue which we are going to have to look at very seriously." |
| In a statement, the Department of Finance and Personnel said the hacking incident was detected on the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA) website . | |
| "The site was immediately taken off-line and investigations started. Because Northern Ireland Civil Service sites are run via clusters of servers, the Planning Service site was also taken off-line," said the statement. | |
| "We are hoping to get full service restored within the next 48 hours but this is contingent upon the web sites being checked as part of our ongoing security testing activities." |