Sweden - An eight-strong group calling itself Hackers Unite claimed responsibility for cracking Microsoft's Hotmail email service over the weekend. Hotmail, used by up to 50 million people worldwide, was out of action for two hours on Monday as engineers tried to close the loophole.
Hotmail UK product manager, Mr Gillian Kent, said: "We cannot be certain exactly who was behind it but we know it originated in Sweden with a group of hackers, or an individual.
Online news service Wired (www.wired.com/news) was contacted by e-mail by Mr Lasse Ljung of Sweden who said he represented Hackers Unite.
The other members of the group were seven American programmers, he said. Hotmail was brought down simply to demonstrate its weak security, not for the financial gain of the perpetrators, he added.