International hackers last month boasted that they stole software from the Pentagon that could disrupt U.S. military networks.The consequences of hacking at Ohio State might not threaten national security, but they can be dire nonetheless.”There is a great concern for computer security here at Ohio State,” said Steve Romig, senior computer specialist for University Technology Services and head of the network security group.Incidents include probes, break-ins, forged e-mail, rude or commercial e-mail spam, which is unsolicited ‘junk’ e-mail and complaints from places outside OSU about unwanted activity coming from OSU, according to the network security group. Hacking is a catch phrase covering a range of activities from unauthorized use of equipment to willful malicious damage, said Charles Morrow-Jones, associate director of academic computing services.”Locally, nationally and internationally, there are numerous incidents of people trying to break into OSU’s servers,” Morrow-Jones said.Break-ins come from nearly everywhere, Romig said. People usually want to use OSU servers to break in somewhere else.”Pick a country. We’ve probably dealt with someone there,” he said.The network security group notices 10 to 20 probes a day and keeps an eye on who is probing OSU, Romig said.A probe is when someone is poking around to see what network services people are running, he said.If someone breaks into a Web server, they could potentially create their own accounts, run their own services, delete any file or shut down the server, Romig said.”If you’re running a server, someone from the outside can gain access,” Romig said. “Hackers want to gain special privileges and execute local commands.”UTS sends the hackers notices telling them their activity is unwanted and illegal, he said.The network security group has also received complaints from NASA about unwanted computer activity coming from OSU, he said.If the machines are on the network, they can be attacked, said Thomas Page Jr., assistant professor in computer information science. Many OSU machines are on the network.”Some faculty turn in their grades through the network,” Page said. Some people are just generally curious compared with others who are breaking in with specific agendas, Romig said.”But intentions don’t matter,” he said. “If we don’t welcome it, it’s illegal. There are a lot of better ways to learn about computers.”Most students don’t have the time or the resources, said Tony Chappell, a senior majoring in computer information science, and USG system administrator. You would really have to know what you were doing.”There is always a way to break into something, he said. “There is no way to check if it is absolutely secure.”Students caught hacking into OSU’s servers are referred to Student Judicial Affairs, Romig said. There are about six cases a year, said Patrick Hall, director of Student Judicial Affairs. Most cases involve issues about e-mail. Some students are caught sending e-mail bombs, which is when a student sends thousands of unwanted e-mail messages to one person, Hall said.”Usually they don’t realize they’re violating a university policy and receive a warning,” Hall said. Some cases involved OSU students receiving forged e-mail from the OSU registrar and the FBI.A student who received forged e-mail from the registrar was told he must leave OSU, Romig said. Another forged e-mail from the FBI accused a student of child pornography crimes, he said. That forged e-mail was traced back to the student’s friends in another country, according to the network security group.In one case, the Recording Industry of America noticed a student was using OSU to run a server where people could download copyrighted CDs for free, Hall said.Students may receive warnings or loss of their account for a certain amount of time, said Alan Albertus, senior systems manager for UTS.