On September 16, 1996, Swedish hackers changed the CIA’s website to read “Central Stupidity Agency” instead of “Central Intelligence Agency”. Experts believe it to be one of the sickest burns delivered to the agency in all of 1996.
Hacker magazine 2600 has a cache of the site from after it was hacked:
The hackers, calling themselves Power Through Resistance, included links out to websites like Playboy, Hackerz.org and Flashback Magazine. The hacked version of the site was up for less than 12 hours before it was taken down, but the sick burn would leave a mark for generations to come.
“This is a separate system not connected to any CIA internal files,” the CIA’s public affairs office told CNN at the time, without acknowledging what a sick burn it was to change the name of the CIA to Central Stupidity Agency. “There is no way you can enter CIA internal files through this system.”
The phrase “stop lying Bo Skarinder” referred to the the Swedish prosecutor who was charging five Swedish hackers with infiltrating large telecom firms. Those young hackers, all between the ages of 16 and 20 when they were arrested in 1991, didn’t face trial until 1996. This hack was believed to be a direct retaliation in the form of the aforementioned sick burn.
The hacked site also read:
Power Through Resistance would like to say: FUCK YOU! to the Central Intelligence Agency World Wide Web site. … but we already know you’re all lame arseholes.
Due to the secretive nature of the CIA, it’s unclear how quickly officials were able to apply ointment to the areas affected by the sick burn. Current levels of burnsauce at the agency could not be confirmed by press time.
Picture: Jim Cooke