CERN'S LHC Computer Hacked

Hackers have broken into one of the computer networks of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

A group calling itself the Greek Security Team left a rogue web page describing the technicians responsible for computer security at the giant atom smasher as “schoolkids” – but reassuring scientists that they did not want to disrupt the experiment.

The hacking attack took place on Wednesday as the LHC passed its first test, sending its protons off on their dizzying journey through time and space, close to the speed of light.

The work of the scientists was not derailed. The engineering team completed four days of scheduled work in the first 24 hours. But what physicists are really waiting for is the Big Bang machine’s first collisions.

The hackers appear to have targeted the computer system of the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment, one of the four detectors that will be analysing the progress of the experiment.

James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN, the European Laboratory for Network Collision, home of the LHC, said: “We don’t know who they were but there seems to be no harm done. It appears to be people who want to make a point that CERN was hack-able,” he added.