Eircom Mail Server Penetrated By Hackers

Mandy Robinson, Tax-news.com, London

18 August 2000

In the early hours of Thursday 17th August, Eircom, Ireland's biggest communications company, became a victim of the country's first major security breach to date. The company admitted that the hacker had access to read e-mails and potentially tamper with websites that belonged to thousands of account holders. The official said 'the only thing the hacker could access is user name and dial-in passwords but because they hacked into this server it's possible they could read private e-mails.'

It is estimated that around 30,000 'Eircom Net 1891' customers may have been affected, some of whom are likely to be prominent figures from the political and business arenas.

In an effort to thwart the hacker Eircom has changed account holder passwords, doing so immediately with no time in which to warn customers. Eircom's spokesperson said that changing dial-in and mail passwords was 'the best course of action' and a 'precautionary measure'.

A notice was posted on the Eircom Net website which warned '1891' customers of a 'security incident' and explained the need to change the passwords by stating: 'This action was taken to ensure the integrity of its customers websites and also to safeguard their mail.'

Eircom has a total of 240,000 customers, and it is a leading company in Ireland's telecommunications sector that offers an internet service provider and also owns the internet companies, Eircom Net and Indigo. Established in 1984, Eircom has become Ireland's major provider of land line and mobile telecommunications, and offers a wide
range of advanced voice, data and multimedia services.

Eircom reported the offence immediately to the Gardai who are conducting their enquiries, and in a press release the telecommunications company states that a 'full examination' is currently underway and 'all necessary measures will be put in place to avoid a re-occurrence.'

This security incident will inevitably raise some serious concerns about security and confidentiality, particularly with regard to e-commerce and electronic business transactions. However, Eircom are keen to point out
that the hacker did not gain access to sensitive information such as credit card details and home addresses. A spokesperson declared 'these guys are incredible, they don't necessarily do anything with the information,
all they want is their 15 minutes of fame.'

Customers should contact the eircom net helpdesk at 1890 787 337 in order to obtain their new passwords. The helpdesk hours have been extended to 7am to 12 midnight, including over the weekend.

The problems only apply to subscription (1891) customers. They don't affect any Indigo customers or those using the eircom net Go Further for Free Internet service.

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