Tri’s father (right) watches him writing apologizing letter to Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Recently, Web surfers were shocked to know that a twelve-grader in Vinh Long Province this year hacked into the official website (www.moetgov.vn) of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in July.

After Bui Minh Tri confessed his security breach to the police, many people condemned the attack, but some said that the website’s administrator had ignored the young hacker’s warning of security vulnerabilities.

 “In addition to the MOET's website, I have found security vulnerabilities in other ministries' websites, and reported to administrators. I did not mean to harm. The administrative departments of the Vietnam Data Company and Vietnam.net Forum have highly appreciated my helps,” said the young boy.

At 2 pm on November 27th, Tri logged on the MOET’s website under the name Guan Yu and replaced the picture of Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan delivering a speech with his half-naked picture.

The Security Network Center BKIS finally tracked down the hacker’s place through his home’s telephone number the next day.

At 2 pm on December 19th, Vinh Long Province’s police raided Tri’s house and seized his computer.

He reported: “In July, 2006, I found security vulnerabilities on the MOET’s website and used them to steal the server’s user name and passwords. Then I reported to the website’s administrators but got no reply. The errors still existed when I logged back to the website on December 27th. Disappointed with their irresponsibility, I decided to replace Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan’s picture with mine in 5 minutes, hoping that someone would see it and report to the relevant units (as my warning did not work).”

“I ask for Minister’s forgiveness. I mean nothing but to report the website’s securities vulnerabilities,” Bui Minh Tri wrote in a letter to Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan.