Ham Radio Operator Group Hacked for No Apparent Reason

A Web server at the national association for amateur radio, called ARRL, was breached by an unknown entity. Mike Keane, the organization’s information technology manager, said there is no reason for alarm.

“Any information the hacker might have been able to glean from the ARRL server,” he said, “is already publicly available — data such as names, addresses, and call signs that appear in the FCC database,” at the Federal Communications Commission.

The intruder might have been able to access the usernames and passwords of ARRL members who registered on ARRL.org before 2010 and have not changed their credentials since.

Keane said that his department is still looking into what types of information might have been compromised.

“They were poking around, trying all the doors,” he said. “We don’t keep anything of value [to a hacker] there. Hackers don’t care about DXCC totals or want to read the online issue of QST. There’s nothing of financial value there,” referring to the group’s magazine and DX Century Club certificates that members receive for making contact with operators in at least 100 other countries.