al-Qaeda sieze control of Arkansas Highway & Transportation server.

[Here I go again, pasting an entire article.]

Al-Qaida hacker hits Arkansas system


Little Rock, AR, Jul. 14 (UPI) -- FBI agents are examining a state of Arkansas computer server that was transformed into an al-Qaida site, the Washington Post said Wednesday.

The files were removed from a computer operated by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department shortly after they were discovered during the weekend, a government spokesman said.

Links to the files were posted to a message board of a group called al-Ansar. The Web site features photos of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, as well as facts about Islam and links to chat rooms and other Islamic Web sites.

Arkansas Transportation Department spokesman Randy Ort confirmed approximately 70 unauthorized files were posted Sunday to a "File Transfer Protocol" site the agency operates for contractors. FTP sites are widely used throughout the Internet as a way to transfer large files quickly.

Ort said the FBI has confiscated the server where the files were located.

Laura Mansfield, who tracks Web sites for Northeast Intelligence Network, an Erie, Pa., private group of analysts that monitors the Internet for terrorist activity, said hijacking unsecured FTP sites is standard procedure for al-Qaida sympathizers, but it was unusual for them to take over a government site.