A group known as GForce Pakistan attacked a Web server operated by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday morning, according to records at Alldas, a Web site defacement archive.
The attackers replaced the NOAA sites homepage with their own, which bore the title "GForce Strikes Back" and contained a 350-word text message. The message said the group would target "major US military and major British Web sites" in coming days and jeopardize their internal security.
The message from the attackers said GForce Pakistan condemns the terrorist attacks on the U.S. but also supports Al Qaeda.
"Usama Bin Laden is a holy fighter, and whatever he says makes sense," said the groups message.
At the bottom of the defaced page under the heading "We Are In No Way Responsible For This Message," was a section of text announcing the formation of a group called Al-Qaeda Alliance Online. According to the text, the group will target major U.S. government sites in coming days.
"We wont hurt any data, as its unethical," the message said. "All we want is our message conveyed." The text also included this threat aimed at U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair: "The day of judgment is very near for both of you."
GForce is also claiming to have "some very high, confidential US data" that it would hand over to officials of Al Qaeda unless the United States met several demands. The groups ultimatum included the removal of U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia; the cessation of bombing in Afghanistan; and the production of "evidence," among other demands.
Al Qaeda is the terrorist organization blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on America. NOAA officials were not immediately available for comment.
The compromised site appears to be part of a network operated by the organizations Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Mo., and may have been somehow involved in a system for data exchange between the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation System known as Alphanumeric Backup Replacement System (ANBURS).
The server, which was unreachable Wednesday morning, was running the Linux operating system and had open file transfer protocol and telnet ports, according to a scan performed by Alldas.
On Tuesday, the FBI warned Americans to expect an increase in cyber protests. The agencys National Infrastructure Protection Center said that besides defacements and denial of service attacks, attackers could also target systems supporting "the national infrastructure."
A mirror of the defaced NOAA site is available on the Alldas site.
Brian McWilliams, Newsbytes
