Midnight hackers trigger NZ alert

By EUGENE BINGHAM

New Zealand's monitoring systems for the Y2K bug have been fortified because of fears they will be attacked by hackers trying to cause international chaos.

Authorities said yesterday that one of their greatest concerns was that the world would gain an inaccurate picture of the bug's impact in New Zealand, triggering international panic.

One of the ways that could happen was through computer raiders infiltrating New Zealand systems and altering information being distributed to the world.

The Y2K Readiness Commission will post reports on New Zealand's progress to its Website during the early hours of January 1, and will give updates via modem to the International Y2K Cooperation Centre in Washington.

Commission chairman Basil Logan said he did not know of any attempts to infiltrate the system, but the commission had taken precautions.

"We have gone to quite a bit of effort to ensure that our systems are secure.

"We have implemented some steps to ensure we have adequate server capacity ... and taken reasonable steps to withstand attempts to disrupt us.

"[But] we are not here to spend millions and millions to make it impregnable ... It's not Fort Knox."

Mr Logan said he was confident that any incidents that did occur because of the changeover to the year 2000 would be "localised in nature and relatively short in duration."

Having the eyes of the world focused on New Zealand for the hours after midnight meant it was very important to have accurate and objective information available.

"Finance markets will still be open as we move into January 1," he said. "An ill-informed finance market could do us some damage."

Cabinet minister Trevor Mallard, who will represent the Government at the Y2K national monitoring centre on New Year's Eve, said people were aware of the dangers of computer viruses and other problems associated with cyber-terrorists.

"There's been a general improvement of security levels as part of the process going up to Y2K," said Mr Mallard.

The Government did not expect any serious fallout.

"You can't absolutely rule out the unexpected, but it appears there has been a lot of work done."

The International Y2K Cooperation Centre said the world would have to hold its cool if any problems did emerge in countries such as New Zealand, which had head-starts into the new millennium.

Its director, Bruce McConnell, said the basic infrastructure appeared to be in good shape.