BADMINTON HACKER ATTACKS AMERICAN NCAA WEBSITE

March 10, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - A computer hacker attacked the Internet website of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the main American organization for university and college sports. The attack took place yesterday after the NCAA announced the 64 teams that had been selected to participate in the prestigious NCAA basketball season-ending tournament.

The website normally showcases the NCAA and its different sports programs. On Sunday evening, the first screen on the website, known as the home page, had been changed to a page entitled "Anti-NCAA".

The invading page also had racial overtones on it such as the words "White Power" and "Fat N----- Counter".

Suspicion that the hacker has links to badminton, a non-NCAA sport, was raised when a second "Anti-NCAA" invading page appeared without the racial slurs but with the phrases "Basketball Sucks! Badminton Rules!" and "Stop the commercialization of the Internet stops here" (sic).

NCAA officials have switched their website electronically to a more secure server and have restored the original content of the NCAA web pages.