'Coolio' may have caused trouble on MSNBC site Thursday, 17 February 2000 19:48 (ET)

'Coolio' may have caused trouble on MSNBC site

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The computer hacker the FBI has named as being responsible for attacks on prominent Web sites last week has created problems on MSNBC's chat server for nearly a year, the Web site news service said.

The hacker, "Coolio," and his associates gathered in #goonies, an IRC chat room. They used a server, www.sith-lord.org, to launch attacks against MSNBC's chat server. The Web site's administrator, however, denied he knew his server was being used illegally.

Chris Donohue, an MSNBC chat producer, said chatters with the same nicknames as the ones on #goonies have used www.sith-lord.org to create problems on MSNBC's chat site for about a year. On Wednesday, he said, a chatter who identified himself as Coolio entered the MSNBC room while still logged on to #goonies. He later said he was impersonating Coolio. He declined to give his real name or comment on the recent spate of attacks on Web sites.

Last week, several prominent Web sites -- including CNN.com, Amazon.com and eBay -- were rendered inoperable with a denial of service attack. TheFBI is still investigating the matter.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=65169

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 18, 2000