Yesterday, a hacker group from Greece, calling themselves the Greek Security Team, hacked into the CERN computer system. They accessed the computer system for the Compact Muon Solenoid detector (CMS), and defaced its website. The CMS is a very large magnet that measures around 21 meters in length and 15 meters wide/high. It is part of one of the particle detectors that will analyze what goes on when protons collide in the Large Hadron Collider.

The hackers did not gain access to the CMS control system, but scientists say that they were “one step away” from gaining control of the 12500 ton machine that is one of the particle detectors at the LHC, and had they done so they could have shut off parts of it. One of the scientists said "it is hard enough to make these things work if no one is messing with it,” according to the Telegraph.

The hackers did not do any real damage, as they simply deleted one file (what file it was precisely has not been disclosed, but it can be assumed non-essential) and replaced the CMS website, posting a message in Greek, according to which they were "pulling your pants down because we don't want to see you running around naked looking to hide yourselves when the panic comes.”

According to James Gillies, spokesman for CERN, "There seems to be no harm done. From what [the computer security team] can tell, it was someone making the point that CMS was hackable."

CERN’s network defense strategy is based on separate control networks with firewalls and complex passwords between them, all designed to minimize the level of penetration of a security breach, and to make synchronized DDoS attack ineffective. It is unlikely that the hackers would have had enough time to reach any critical systems. However the fact that they got so far raises serious security concerns for CERN.

Stefan Luders, computer security officer with CERN wrote in an article in the CERN computer affairs newsletter last November that the consequences of a total breach "are inherent to the design of CERN's accelerators and the affiliated experiments. All run a variety of control systems: some of them are complex, some of them deal with personnel safety, and some of them control or protect expensive or irreplaceable equipment. Thus, CERN's assets and their proper operation are at stake.”

CERN’s networks have been faced with hacking attempts ever since the LHC experiment has come under public scrutiny, although this is the first one that has managed to achieve any real success. To address growing security concerns and improve security methods CERN have set up a working group called Computing and Network Infrastructure for Controls.