Hackers break into US Senate computers

Warning: CIA director said that a cyber attack could be the 'next Pearl Harbor'

The US Senate's website was hacked over the weekend, leading to a review of all of its websites, in the latest embarrassing breach of security to hit a major US-based institution. The loosely organized hacker group Lulz Security broke into a public portion of the Senate website but did not reach behind a firewall into a more sensitive portion of the network, Martina Bradford, the deputy Senate sergeant at arms, said on Monday. Despite the breach, the Sergeant at Arms Office, which provides security for the Senate, said that the breach had not compromised any individual senator's information. Lulz announced the hack on Monday. "We were responding to their allegations. Basically what we're saying that the server they got into is for public access and is in the public side," said Bradford. Lulz Security, who have hacked into Sony's website and the U.S. Public Broadcasting System, posted online a list of files that appear not to be sensitive but indicate the hackers had been into the Senate's computer network. "We don't like the US government very much," Lulz Security said at the top of their release. "This is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data from Senate.gov - is this an act of war, gentlemen? Problem?" The comment refers to reports that the US military had decided that it could respond to cyber attacks from foreign countries with traditional military force. Senate staffers were alerted about the breach late Monday. "Although this intrusion is inconvenient, it does not compromise the security of the Senate's network, its members or staff," Bradford said in a statement. "Specifically, there is no individual user account information on the server supporting senate.gov that could have been compromised." "The hackers may have done the equivalent of burglarizing the Senate and bragging because they managed to steal a bunch of souvenirs from the gift shop," said Stewart Baker, a former cyber official at the Department of Homeland Security. He is now with the law firm Steptoe and Johnson.

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Over 10,000 flee clashes in Sudan border state: UN

 More than 10,000 people displaced by fighting in Sudan's Southern Kordofan were staying near a U.N. compound on Thursday, the country mission spokesman said, after nearly a week of clashes in the tense border state.

Fighting between government forces and armed groups erupted in the state capital of Kadugli and elsewhere after a police station was attacked on Saturday, adding to tensions as the country's south prepares to secede in about a month.

Southern Kordofan, an oil-producing state which lies in northern territory, has long been seen as a flashpoint because it is home to thousands of fighters who fought alongside the south against Khartoum during the last civil war.

In statements carried by the state news agency SUNA, Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said north Sudan's armed forces were in control of Southern Kordofan on Thursday and were combing it for "remnants of the rebellion."

Southern Kordofan is important to the north because it has the most productive oil fields that will remain under Khartoum's control after the split. The south could take as much as 75 percent of Sudan's 500,000 barrels per day of oil output.

It also borders the disputed Abyei territory and Darfur, a western region that is the scene of a separate insurgency.

Analysts have predicted fighting could break out in Southern Kordofan ahead of the split, especially after an official of the ruling northern party was named the winner in a gubernatorial election last month.

The south said the vote was rigged, which Khartoum denied.

Southern Sudan voted to secede in a January referendum, the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between the north and south. The split is scheduled for July 9.

CLASHES CONTINUE

The number of people staying near the local U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) compound after fleeing the state capital of Kadugli and nearby villages had risen to an estimated 10,000 by Thursday, UNMIS spokesman Kouider Zerrouk said.

Clashes took place in Kadugli and other areas into Thursday, he added.

Bashir's ruling National Congress Party had earlier accused southern-aligned armed groups in Southern Kordofan of fighting with the support of "foreign powers" and some domestic opposition.

"The armed forces will carry out their national duty and deal with all rebel forces," the statement cited presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie as saying.

Officials with the south's dominant party, the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, have said the clashes started when the north tried to disarm armed groups in the area.

The northern army has blamed the southern-aligned groups for starting the fighting.

The militias are still referred to as members of the Southern Peoples' Liberation Army -- the southern military -- although Juba says they are no longer part of their army and cannot ask them to withdraw south because they are northern.

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