The Large Hadron Collider has recently been the target of a hacker attack, which raised serious concerns about the security capabilities of world's biggest experiment.

 

So, yes, LHC is in the spotlight again. It seems that the public hysteria caused by the hypothetical idea that LHC could trigger the formation of black holes, tsunami waves and powerful earthquakes led to researchers at CERN receiving a huge number of worrisome telephone calls and e-mail threats. However, fear is not the only incentive for this anti-LHC revolt. The enormous technological facility also seems to be seen as a challenge for computer hackers, who want to measure their abilities against those of the LHC staff.

 

While the Geneva scientists were undergoing the particle beam circulation test, a page from a Greek hacking group was suddenly displayed on one of their monitors. It was headlined “GST: Greek Security Team,” and signed “We are 2600 - dont mess with us [sic].” Following this incident, the website in question, cmsmon.cern.ch, has become restricted to the public. Pity.

 

The LHC staff is disappointed and worried about the fate of the experiment and that of the enormous and expensive device (12.500 tons, 21 m long and 15 m wide/high). “It is hard enough to make these things work if no one is messing with it,” one of them said. Luckily, attackers couldn't breach the second computer network from where parts of the machine can be switched off. Only a file from the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment – one of the four monitoring devices of the facility – was damaged.

 

James Gillies, spokesman for CERN stated that “There seems to be no harm done. From what they can tell, it was someone making the point that CMS was hackable. It was quickly detected.” And then, referring to the security issue, he added, “We have several levels of network, a general access network and a much tighter network for sensitive things that operate the LHC.” According to Gillies, out of the 1.4 million e-mails received by their site in a day, 90% is spam. CERN uses over 110 different systems of control for their “defense-in-depth” approach, with separated control networks, complex firewalls and complicated passwords.

 

And, as if outside troubles weren't enough for the LHC, one of the scientists shocked the world's already discontented population by misquoting and wrongly attributing the tagline of "Star Trek" (“Where no man has gone before”). Michael Zeller, a physics professor at Yale working at the LHC reportedly puzzled everyone with his funny-wannabe comparison, “What did they say in ‘Star Wars’? We’re going where no man has ever been? Well, that’s where we’re going.”