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State Web site on the mend after hacker hits

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, November 10, 2007

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island secretary of state’s office is working to restore its Web site after a hacker’s attack earlier this week.

Chris Barnett, spokesman for Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, said that most of the Web site, www.state.ri.us, is working but that problems remain with parts of the site that advertise public meetings, search for members of state boards and commissions, and post state rules and regulations.

“We are working on the problem and hope to have it fully restored within the next day or so,” said Barnett.

The Web site has experienced troubles this week. The secretary of state’s office on Wednesday reported that the site’s computer server had to be taken off line after the office’s technology staff detected an unusually high volume of traffic, slowing down the system.

Later in the week, a scan found that the system has been under attack by a hacker.

No personal information was compromised in the attack, Barnett said. For example, credit card information that customers of the Corporations Division sometimes provide to obtain copies of business records is stored on another server that was not affected.

“No personal data is at risk and none of it was ever at risk,” said Barnett.

“At this point our focus is on getting that site up and working fully.”

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