Well crap! We just learned, thanks to reports from the IT departments at a couple of universities, that one of our Web servers has been compromised. It's a Solaris 10 box and on it was found, in hidden directories, a big stash of MP3 music and the like. Also an unauthorized account. Our ISP generated some utilization graphs that showed our T1 transmissions were nearing 90 percent of capacity every late night — probably some low-life using us to share files and trying to reach out and touch some other poor sucker. So soon, very soon, I'll most likely have to take down the server, wipe the hard drive, and rebuild from bare metal. Or otherwise replace the server. To those miscreants who have perverted the formerly noble title of "hacker" and  say they do these things because they can, I ask this: If we were standing across from each other, would it be okay for me to punch you in the face because I can? No? Hmmm. I guess I don't get your rationalization, then. Intruder alert indeed!

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