On August 3, Wuhan Television reported to police in this capital of Hubei Province, central China, that the country's largest science website had been attacked by someone named "Playgirl", with the original homepage replaced by an erotic picture.

Preliminary investigations into the case proved difficult, as the hacker had broken into the website without disclosing his IP address or telephone number.

With the help of high technology means, the police were able to locate and track three suspicious numbers calling from Huangshi city, Hubei Province.

On August 4, the Wuhan police detained Wang Qun, a 19-year-old computer major at a high school in Huangshi.

Searches into Wang's computer showed that he had taken advantage of the flaws in some government-run websites and replaced their homepages with pornographic pictures.

Evidence was also found in Wang's chatroom exchanges with other Internet surfers, where Wang, nicknamed "Playgirl", bragged about how he had attacked over 30 domestic and overseas websites.

The case is under further investigation by judicial departments.

(people's daily.com.cn 09/14/2001 )