University Times

Two Pitt computer science department servers were among the sites at dozens of universities worldwide recently breached by hacker group TeamGhostShell.

Jinx Walton, director of Pitt’s Computing Services and Systems Development, said no sensitive information was released nor were any Pitt users’ computer accounts compromised in the attack on the two computer science department servers.

In an Oct. 1 post at http://pastebin.com/AQWhu8Ek that included links to data, the group’s leader, DeadMellox, detailed the rationale behind TeamGhostShell’s “Project WestWind.”

Inviting others to join in conversation on education, DeadMellox wrote: “We have set out to raise awareness towards the changes made in today’s education, how new laws imposed by politicians affect us, our economy and overall, our way of life. How far we have ventured from learning valuable skills that would normally help us be prepared in life, to just, simply memorizing large chunks of text in exchange for good grades. How our very own traditions are heard less and less, losing touch with who we truly are. Slowly casting the identities that our ancestors fought to protect into exile.”

Walton said a scripting error made it possible for hackers to access the site, which she said contained publicly accessible information or data created for testing.

The department was not part of the Enterprise Web Infrastructure (the hardware and software that hosts all the University’s web sites), which features network-based firewalls.

Daniel Mosse, computer science department chair, confirmed that no confidential information was stored on the research experimental servers. He told the University Times that all information on the servers was for testing purposes or available on the Internet, adding that no sensitive information is kept on the departmental servers.

He said the systems were taken offline and repaired.

Last April, computer science department data also was the target of hackers who claimed to be affiliated with the hactivist group Anonymous. (See June 28 University Times.) Two Ohio men are facing federal charges in conjunction with the incident.

—Kimberly K. Barlow