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FW: Archives Nightmare: Slashdot Crack a Password, Save Norwegia n History.html



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For those who are interested, a nightmare comes to life...

Leslie Cade
Archivist
The Cleveland Museum of Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Frederick Friedman-Romell
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 11:38 AM
To: Leslie Cade
Subject: Archives Nightmare: Slashdot Crack a Password, Save Norwegian
History.html


Hello Leslie,

enjoy.  comments below the blurb should be read at your own risk

http://www.norwaypost.com/content.asp?folder_id=1&cluster_id=19820
 <<Slashdot  Crack a Password, Save Norwegian History.html>>
Title: Slashdot | Crack a Password, Save Norwegian History
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Crack a Password, Save Norwegian History
SecurityPosted by chrisd on Wednesday June 05, @03:00AM
from the did-they-try-god-or-sex-yet dept.
Christian writes "With the death of the only person who knew the password to an archive held at a museum in Norway, suddenly the data became inaccessible. The result? A nationwide radio appeal asking for "hackers" to volunteer to help solve the problem! The Norway Post has the story." I wonder if they looked under his keyboard yet..

 

 
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Crack a Password, Save Norwegian History | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 561 comments | Search Discussion
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What i want to know is.. (Score:1, Interesting)
by Xuranova (Xuranova@validthreat.com) on Wednesday June 05, @03:02AM (#3643688)
(User #160813 Info)
Does my name get to be a part of history for single handly saving it?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I wonder.... (Score:1, Redundant)
by Edward Teach (nospam58@pacbell.net) on Wednesday June 05, @03:05AM (#3643697)
(User #11577 Info | http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~mlong)
what is Norweigan for "password".
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Love all round... (Score:1, Funny)
by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 05, @03:06AM (#3643703)
Mesenger: John is Dead!
Meseum: (in sync) Ahhh, he was a lovely fellow, never bothered a soul... wonderful guy... absolutely great...
Mesenger 2: He was the only one who knew the password to the history archive!
Mesuem: That F&%cker! How dare he die... mother f%#cking asshole!
Messenger 2: Hey... don't kill the messenger!
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
its sad... (Score:1, Insightful)
by cliffom (cliffom@[TAKETHISCRAPOUT]cliffom.net) on Wednesday June 05, @03:06AM (#3643704)
(User #99844 Info | http://cliffom.net)
when an entire archive is maintained by one mortal person. I wonder how many other times cases like these have come to surface. Sure, they may be on a much smaller scale, but something is to be said about archives of data maintained by one person, or one person having the only password to access these archives. But I guess we all know about too many cooks in the kitchen...
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:its sad... by boomer_rehfield (Score:2) Wednesday June 05, @12:49PM
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
Slashdoted Text (Score:5, Informative)
by Technician on Wednesday June 05, @03:07AM (#3643709)
(User #215283 Info)
5. Juni 2002

Hackers respond to password challenge

Hackers have responded in large numbers to an appeal from the director of a culture center and literary museum on the west coast of Norway.

The password to one of their library archive systems is missing.

The museum built in honour of the famous Norwegian linguist Ivar Aasen received a gift of more than 1600 books and documents which had been catalogued and registered in a national data bank, which researchers and interested people may access.

Only trouble was that the expert who had helped the donor with the archiving work had died, and had failed to pass on the password.

In order to get access to the data base, Director Ottar Grepstad appealed on nationwide radio for help to solve the problem.
The response was above expectations, and the director is now busy chosing the expert most likely to solve the problem.

(NRK)

(this loaded very slow, but I got it.)
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Slashdoted Text (Score:5, Funny)
    by ObviousGuy (ObviousGuy@hotmail.com) on Wednesday June 05, @03:10AM (#3643721)
    (User #578567 Info | Last Journal: Sunday June 02, @10:16PM)
    Ottar Grepstad

    Heh. The director's got two Unix utilities in his name and he *still* can't hack the system.

    I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere.

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:Slashdoted Text by lythari (Score:1) Wednesday June 05, @05:14AM
  • Re:Slashdoted Text by Jeppe Salvesen (Score:2) Wednesday June 05, @08:06AM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • And in other news.... (Score:4, Funny)
    by Ooblek on Wednesday June 05, @09:43AM (#3644430)
    (User #544753 Info)
    Days ago, Ottar Grepstad, director of the culture center and literary museum on the west coast of Norway, was busy selecting his expert of choice to hack a password known only by a dead man. It has been revealed that only minutes after his public appeal for a skiller hax0r to recover this password, his archive was ow3nd by Kevin Mitnick. The notorious hacker released information found in the archive that seems to indicate that Britney Spears was concieved by using frozen sperm from non other than Mike Tyson himself. The egg donor was only referred to in the archive as "Camilla" and it is suspected she is the same woman that Prince Charles is dating.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Re:Slashdoted Text by VivianC (Score:3) Wednesday June 05, @11:23AM
  • Re:Slashdoted Text by nike2422 (Score:1) Wednesday June 05, @01:28PM
  • 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
Hackers or script kiddies? (Score:1, Redundant)
by _bobs.pizza_ on Wednesday June 05, @03:08AM (#3643712)
(User #452394 Info)
is the call for hackers to find a way to circumvent the login system to retrieve the data, or do they want the password 'recovered' by using a dictionary attack, or another brute-force method?

Though, at this point, they probably aren't too particular.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I've got the password! (Score:1, Redundant)
by Teknogeek (technogeek83@@@attbi...com) on Wednesday June 05, @03:09AM (#3643713)
(User #542311 Info | http://wrongsonic.keenspace.com/)
The name of his dog!

What? He didn't have a dog?

Oh, well.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Don't worry, I've already cracked it (Score:4, Funny)
by Henry V .009 on Wednesday June 05, @03:09AM (#3643716)
(User #518000 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
I've already cracked it. Got the archives open right here. Let's see:

In the year 1005, the 1337 v1k0rs raided the English coast for raping and pillaging...
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
If I were to pass (Score:2, Insightful)
by Necro Spork on Wednesday June 05, @03:11AM (#3643723)
(User #260099 Info)
I have been thinking about this for a while. If I died suddenly, from the view of the online community, I would just disappear. No one would know to contact them. Most people would forget, or never notice, but some should really be contacted. Now I'm thinking I should make a list and put it on my hard drive to be found, (right next to the prOn) and have instructions on who needs informing.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
As a Swede, all I can say is... (Score:5, Funny)
by weird mehgny on Wednesday June 05, @05:09AM (#3643724)
(User #549321 Info)
...this only happens in Norway :)

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Slashdot down! (Score:1)
by ObviousGuy (ObviousGuy@hotmail.com) on Wednesday June 05, @05:12AM (#3643726)
(User #578567 Info | Last Journal: Sunday June 02, @10:16PM)
Did Cowboy Neil die and take all the passwords with him?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
10 to 1 its a fish or norweigian porn star (Score:1)
by linzeal (koat@nOSPAM.rhizome.org) on Wednesday June 05, @05:13AM (#3643727)
(User #197905 Info | http://www.anarchsforlife.org/)
What if they discover the password to their vaunted history is protected by "KiraKenerl0vesmywingwang?"
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
It's probably just ... (Score:1)
by kentheman (KSarmaat.uno@nl) on Wednesday June 05, @05:15AM (#3643735)
(User #24620 Info | http://www.kaboenka.nl/)
trustno1
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
And there the server was slashdotted... (Score:1)
by pucko ((wpt2097) (at) (hotmail.com)) on Wednesday June 05, @05:15AM (#3643736)
(User #68877 Info | http://www.muha.net/~andreas/)
Anyone have a mirror to the article?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
NSA to the rescue (Score:1)
by andhar on Wednesday June 05, @06:43AM (#3643753)
(User #194607 Info)
Well, you know darn well the NSA can't tell them right away.

They know, but it'll be classified for another 50 years.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
this dosn't make sense. (Score:1, Offtopic)
by DanThe1Man on Wednesday June 05, @06:47AM (#3643760)
(User #46872 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
Crack a password, save history.
Get a cable modem, go to jail. [slashdot.org].

What kind of crazy backwards world are we living in?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Slashdotted alread... Google cache (Score:1)
by YellowSubRoutine on Wednesday June 05, @06:50AM (#3643770)
(User #230089 Info)
http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:http://www.no rwaypost.com/content.asp?folder_id=1&cluster_id=19 820
Damn, I can't even figure out how to post a link... anyone care to enlighten?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
so.. how are we supposed to store passwords? (Score:5, Interesting)
by dikappa (dikappa@@@exea...it) on Wednesday June 05, @06:52AM (#3643776)
(User #581761 Info)
This is an interesting issue. Any -minimally skilled- IT operator knows he should never tell passes to other people. But, what if this person dies? How can we safely store passwords so that those can be retrieved if "shit happens"? Probably we cannot use encription (you need a pass to decrypt stuff), so what? Probably for most of us, a piece of paper in a safe place at home is enough, hackers *usually* do not break-in to get passwords. But I guess there is people around protecting *really* important data, and they do not trust anyone... what can they do to make passwords "undiscoverable" until "death" or sudden amnesy?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
From Norway? we know what the password is :) (Score:2)
by phunhippy (phunhippy@evoluti ... om ['dea' in gap]) on Wednesday June 05, @06:53AM (#3643779)
(User #86447 Info | http://www.evolutionarydeadend.com/)
The poor guy probably froze to death, try these passwords:

damnitscolduphere
amnitsreallycolduphere

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Password Selection Rules (Score:3, Funny)
by darkcookie on Wednesday June 05, @06:53AM (#3643781)
(User #323852 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
No problem if the guy has observed the well-known password selection rules

Query Google for "Password Selection Rules 88-570471" [google.de]
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Password Selection Rules (Score:5, Informative)
    by kilogram on Wednesday June 05, @07:29AM (#3643861)
    (User #520192 Info | http://www.xaltra.net/)
    If this place is somewhat like the rest of Norway, and their password policy alike, cracking the password shouldn't be a problem. It seems that Norwegians are probably the worst at selecting passwords, and if capitalization differences and numeric characters are enforced, most people use TheirLogOnName1, or something very similar. A dictionary attack would be most useful in these cases.

    Anyhow, I haven't looked at this specific case, and so it has to come down to the password protection in the database used (DBase 4), which I am not familiar with.

    Just a bit of background history: In Norway we have two written languages; nynorsk and bokmaal. The site that's lost their password, fronts the usage of nynorsk, which is a clear minority language. Most people in Norway speak dialects which mostly resembles the written nynorsk, although most write bokmaal.

    The lost database contains "16 000 books in nynorsk", but some news sites seem to have gotten this number wrong (namely "1600", dagbladet.no).

    To those asking for a translation, I can mention that they (aasentunet.no), have gotten about 20 e-mails and 5-6 phone calls, since it was mentioned on national radio. They've even been contacted by parapsychologists, who wants to crack the password using supernatural powers! :)
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
Cracker surely! (Score:1)
by jocks on Wednesday June 05, @06:53AM (#3643783)
(User #56885 Info | http://www.iamparanoid.co.uk/)
I thought we had all agreed that "crackers" broke into things and "hackers" put things together? Regardless, it is nice to see the brains of these guys being used for ultimate good rather than for vanity.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Problem solved? (Score:2, Informative)
by dr. greenthumb on Wednesday June 05, @07:04AM (#3643789)
(User #114246 Info | http://www.kulturkonsult.no/)
I'll just mail them this link [passwordbusters.com].
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Problem solved! by SEWilco (Score:2) Wednesday June 05, @09:35AM
  • Re:Problem solved? (Score:5, Informative)
    by Syre on Wednesday June 05, @10:32AM (#3644741)
    (User #234917 Info)
    he really does have the solution for them:

    http://www.passwordbusters.com/profile_dbase.htm

    dBase

    Versions: All known

    Recovery time: 1 day

    Success Rate: 100%

    Price: $29

    What we need from you: Your dBase file sent via email.

    What we will give you: Your dBase file's missing password.

    Notes: dBase features a relatively insecure password protection algorithm.

    How we recover the file: We find the password information within your file and compare known permanent data against encrypted data in the password to decrypt the text of the missing password.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:Problem solved? by quantaman (Score:2) Wednesday June 05, @07:14PM
Hasn't anyone... (Score:1)
by aetherspoon on Wednesday June 05, @07:12AM (#3643800)
(User #72997 Info | http://www.vandaliersheart.com/)
... just used a random password generator at the machine? I mean, it isn't hard when you own the machine...

*smacks Slashdot being down*
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
web site of the museum (Score:5, Informative)
by valentyn on Wednesday June 05, @07:13AM (#3643802)
(User #248783 Info | http://valentijn.sessink.nl/)
The web site of this museum seems to be www.aasentunet.no [aasentunet.no] and if I'm not mistaken, it has two news items about the password problem: Populaert dataproblem [prodat.no] and Bokmålsbrukarar vil finne passord [prodat.no].
The latter has a few links to on-line news as well:
  • NRK [www.nrk.no]
  • Dagbladet [dagbladet.no] (headline: "Alle vil hacke for Ivan Aasen" :)
  • TV2 [tv2.no]
  • digi.no [www.digi.no]
Unfortunately, that's all in Norsk. (Any volunteers for translating?)
[ Reply to This | Parent ]