UK’s Telegraph reports hackers at CERN’s LHC

William Atkins
Friday, 12 September 2008 21:43

Science - Energy

The hacked control system was the 12,500-metric-ton Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS ), a giant solenoid magnet that is part of the CMS Experiment.

The CMS is one of two large general-purpose particle physics detectors used to analyze the particles circulating around the LHC.

The Telegraph article quotes James Gillies, a CERN spokesperson, who stated, "There seems to be no harm done. From what they can tell, it was someone making the point that CMS was hackable.”

Further, Gillies stated, “It was quickly detected."

Gillies added, “We have several levels of network, a general access network and a much tighter network for sensitive things that operate the LHC.”