http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500181540-500239960-501192006-0,00.html

BRASILIA, Brazil (March 16, 2000 9:53 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com)

A government official said computer hackers invaded and shut down the web site of Brazil's telecommunications regulatory agency for nearly six hours.

Cyber-pirates from the United States and Canada flooded the National Telecommunications Agency's site with 600 hits per second in the first 90 minutes of the attack, which began Wednesday morning, said Flavia Magalhaes, an agency representative.

The overload caused the site to crash but caused no content damage, she said.

Wednesday's attack marked the latest in a series of recent assaults on Brazilian sites, including those of the Science and Technology Ministry and the Supreme Court.

Justice Ministry officials are working to design a bill punishing hacking crimes.

-- viewer (justp@ssing.by), March 16, 2000