MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Light snow, 35°F (2°C) Tonight: Light rain or snow, 34°F (1°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Wet snow, 35°F (2°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 125, Number 12 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, March 11, 2005 Athena Hacker Caught by IS&T By Marissa Vogt An e-mail to the hacker’s personal information was not NEWS EDITOR Yahoo! account requesting com- accessed by the hacker or anyone MIT has caught the perpetrator ment received no reply. else, since the compromised pass- of last week’s Athena security words were reset very quickly. breach, which compromised over Hacker facing disciplinary action “At this point we are confident 600 passwords. Though the individual was iden- that no one's private information According to a statement tified last weekend, the decision to was compromised or abused in any released by Jeffrey I. Schiller ’79, release the information was not way,” Schiller’s statement said. network manager for Information made until now because it had to be “We have no reason to believe Services and Technology, the per- confirmed by several layers of man- the individual compromised them,” son was identified last Saturday and agement at MIT, not just within Schiller said. “That’s not what this has admitted responsibility in the IS&T, Schiller said. is about.” incident. The case is now being handled An earlier statement by the hack- “We are not at liberty to disclose through “MIT’s normal disciplinary er had criticized the current level of additional information about the matters,” Schiller said. He declined security on Athena, stating a pur- incident or this person's identity, nor to comment on whether law pose of convincing IS&T to change can we discuss whatever discipli- enforcement was involved with the its security policy. nary action, if any, will be taken,” investigation or would be consulted Though prevention of attacks is the statement said. The statement in the disciplinary process. difficult because the root password also said that the internal investiga- Schiller said IS&T has not done is available, steps will be taken to tion is continuing. anything to restrict the person’s make sure that IS&T will be notified Schiller declined to comment on access to Athena and would only do if someone does something like this the identity of the hacker and the so in a case where they felt a person again, Schiller said. means by which IS&T caught the posed an “imminent threat.” “We are going to be taking steps perpetrator. “You don’t ask the CIA “I do not believe this person to make this much harder to do,” how they do their work,” Schiller poses a risk to the community right Schiller said. He said that because said. now,” Schiller said. IS&T will not publicize the methods Schiller said that even the hacker for detecting future hackers, they is probably not certain how he or Private information not abused will function as silent alarms, where she was caught and was “probably Schiller said that IS&T is confi- “you don’t know what you did to set surprised.” dent but “not guaranteeing” that it off.” TAMAR ENGEL Cloutier, Lowell Elected UA P/VP Othello (Dan Liston, right) demands that Iago (Holly B. Laird ’07) show proof for the seeds of suspicion Iago has planted By Marie Y. Thibault final round votes. ed Class of 2007 President, and Ada about his wife, Desdemona, in the MIT Shakespeare Ensem- STAFF REPORTER Cloutier attributed the victory to Lipkin ’08 was elected Class of ble’s production of Othello. Othello runs through March 12 in The Undergraduate Association the way they “got out and talked to 2008 President. Of the 19 available La Sala de Puerto Rico. elections ended Wednesday students.” He and Lowell will be positions, 12 were uncontested. evening, with John. M. Cloutier ’06 sworn in at the last UA Senate and Jessica H. Lowell ’07 elected meeting of this school year, he said. ’06 president not determined UA President and Vice President, The race for 2006 Class Presi- An online election which started respectively. dent resulted in a tie between today and will run until Thursday Sloan Denies Admission Cloutier and Lowell received Nikhil S. Shenoy ’06 and Kimberley will serve as the tiebreaker for 2006 815 final round votes, winning over W. Wu ’06. Wu’s running mate, Council president. the President/Vice President team Clarence Lee ’06, was elected 2006 Wu said that she was very sur- To Those Who Attempted Calvin G. Sizer ’06 and Bryan D. Vice President. Owens ’07, which received 710 Melvin C. Makhni ’07 was elect- Elections, Page 14 To Hack Admissions Site By Kelley Rivoire applicants, said Rob Garcia, Sloan and Jenny Zhang director of admissions. NEWS EDITORS In total, about 150 applicants to The Sloan School of Manage- several business schools, including ment will reject the 32 MBA appli- Harvard, Stanford, and Carnegie cants who had hacked into the Mellon, used instructions posted on a admissions system in an attempt to BusinessWeek Online bulletin to view the status of their admissions, gain unauthorized access to their said Dean of the Sloan School application information. The online Richard Schmalensee ’65. admissions for these schools is run No information about admissions decisions was accessible to these Sloan, Page 12 A Challenge in the Making: How to Improve FSILG Life By Beckett W. Sterner some struggling while others thrive. NEWS EDITOR The Association for Independent What if MIT had visiting com- Living Groups is in the early stages mittees for measuring quality of life of examining whether an accredita- at living groups? tion process could help FSILGs At MIT, fraternities, sororities, raise their standard of living. The indepen- AILG is an umbrella organization dent living for all MIT FSILG alumni. Feature groups, and “The idea is to take some of the dormitories accreditation notion in society at each have their own distinctive cul- large” and apply it to FSILGs, said tures, but all face some common David Burmaster ’69, a member of challenges, from finances to good the AILG Board of Directors. OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH governance. There is often little “Our intention is that [accredita- Alan Millner ’69 explains ozone generation — crucial to transistor production — to HuiYing Wen ’08. communication, however, between tion] isn’t an extra hoop to jump Millner, an engineer for the world’s leading manufacturer of ozone generators, explained the ozone living groups about successful solu- generator design process to students of 8.022 in the Experimental Study Group Thursday evening. tions to shared problems, leaving AILG, Page 12 Jazz Ensem- Comics CAMPUS LIFE World & Nation . 2 ble performs Looking to date that cute older Opinion . 4 impressively grad student? Arts . 5 again. Campus Life . .9 Sports . .16 Page 5 Page 6 Page 10 Page 2 THE TECH March 11, 2005 WORLD & NATION Yemeni Sheik and Aide Convicted Europe, United States Agree In Terrorism Trial By William Glaberson THE NEW YORK TIMES NEW YORK On Iran Negotiation Methods A Yemeni cleric who once said Osama bin Laden had called him his sheik was convicted of terrorism financing charges Thursday in a By David E. Sanger mercial airliners. enrichment activities while it is federal court in New York City. and Steven R. Weisman “We’re in support of what the engaged in negotiations with The victory for the Justice Department came in one of the govern- THE NEW YORK TIMES Europeans are doing, but we had to Britain, France and Germany. But ment’s most visible terrorism-financing prosecutions, a case that had WASHINGTON find a way to demonstrate it,” a its leaders have repeatedly for a time appeared uncertain after the FBI’s star informer set himself Europe and the United States senior U.S. official deeply involved declared that it will never give up on fire outside the White House in November. have agreed on a joint approach to in the internal debate within the its right to enrich uranium for what The sheik, Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, who once held a negotiating with Iran over its administration said about the pend- it insists are peaceful purposes. government post in Yemen, was convicted by a jury in U.S. District nuclear program after months of ing announcement. “This is our The Nuclear Nonproliferation Court in Brooklyn of conspiracy to support al-Qaida and Hamas and dispute, with the United States way of making clear that we will Treaty, which Iran has ratified, other charges after a five-week trial. His assistant, Mohammed agreeing to offer modest economic join the Europeans in giving Iran gives all signers the right to enrich Mohsen Yahya Zayed, was also convicted of conspiracy and other incentives and the Europeans positive reasons to give up its pro- uranium as long as the work is charges. Lawyers for both men said they would appeal. agreeing to take the issue to the gram.” peaceful, declared, and fully moni- Federal prosecutors said Thursday that the trial provided a view of U.N. Security Council if negotia- Though Bush will not announce tored by the International Atomic a successful campaign in the government’s war on terror and a sam- tions fail, senior U.S. officials said. the change himself, just as he did Energy Agency. The monitoring is ple of how traditional law-enforcement methods have been applied to The American incentives would not announce a similar offer intended to assure that a country is new targets. go into effect only if Iran agrees to extended to North Korea last June, only producing low-enriched ura- halt the enrichment of uranium per- he has been closely involved in the nium capable of fueling commer- manently.