MS hacker gets in touch with The Reg

But Dimitri's not giving too much away though

By Kieren McCarthy • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 9th November 2000 13:31 GMT

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The hacker that worked his way into Microsoft's servers through a known security hole has contacted The Reg to refute a claim we made yesterday that he was lying about hacking into M$' servers for a second time.

We were skeptical about Dimitri's claim that he had re-entered the servers through the same route five days after his initial hack, even though Microsoft had developed the patch for the hole back in August. Dimitri (Dimitri Van de Giessen, apparently) claimed he had uploaded a file called Oopsididitagain, a reference to a Britney Spears song. In the file he spoke of enjoying the pop star's concert in the Netherlands that weekend.

The email read: "I really laught when I read your article. So you think I'm bluffing?" A link was then given to hack mirror site Attrition which confirmed his side of the story. The hack message, put up on Microsoft's events Web site, ran: "Patching your systems is very hard huh. MSG to Britney Spears. I loved your concert in the netherlands."

We asked Dimitri if he'd like to send us the encypted file of adminstrative user names and passwords that he said he'd picked up while inside Microsoft. He said he would on the condition that we get Britney to call him and provided us with his phone number. Our Lucy is perfecting her American drawl as we speak.

He also confirmed that he had been in touch with Microsoft in the Netherlands after its requests to do so after the second hack.

And so we apologise to Dimitri for having the audacity to doubt his side of the story (even though it sounded well dodgy). We still think he's a naughty boy for hacking in in the first place though. ®