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Steamboat Springs — Kent Morrison has lost a lot of sleep during the past 10 days.

Morrison, the city's information systems manager, has been working overtime to repair damage from what he called a "very sophisticated" computer-based attack on the city's Web site, www.steamboatsprings.net. Morrison said he first became aware of the damaged Web site on the morning of Jan. 8 and immediately disconnected the city's Web server from the Internet. He then began examining the site's usage records and made an unsettling discovery.

"It became obvious that during that weekend, on (Jan.) 6 or the 7, somebody, from somewhere in the world, had hacked into the server and done serious damage," Morrison said Wednesday at Centennial Hall, home to the city's Internet and telecommunications networks. "It was an operating system-level attack. They got in and made changes to the operating systems."

The city's Web site has been unusable since Jan. 8. Morrison said he hopes to have the site operational by the end of the week, but he acknowledged the wait could be longer. Rather than simply re-booting the site, he is taking advantage of the opportunity to install new servers and completely overhaul the city's Web security.

"Where we're headed, as an organization, is to an environment called a 'virtual server,'" Morrison said, standing in a low-ceilinged, chilly room in the basement of Centennial Hall, where the city's Internet servers are housed. New "superservers," Morrison said, will streamline operations and provide a backup system to automatically continue Internet services should one server be compromised.

"This one box right here will do what six or eight of these older servers do," Morrison said. "We're headed for uninterrupted service."

Morrison oversees the city's Internet servers and computer networks, which are utilized by every city department, including the Steamboat Springs Police Department and the Department of Public Works.

He said last week's Web attack likely used a "brute forcing" technique to continually attempt to hack city passwords and access city servers. The attack accessed only the operating systems involved with the city's Web site, he said, and did not affect city databases.

"None of the data on the city's network was ever at risk," Morrison said. "We don't conduct any transactions on the city site, so there are no credit card numbers or anything like that - nobody's personal information was ever at risk, either."

Morrison said the city's new servers will help guard against surprisingly frequent at-tacks. During a period of about six weeks from early November to late December, Morrison said, city "firewalls," or Internet security programs, registered more than 400,000 attempts to hack passwords and access city servers.

Morrison said while the city's Web site is being fixed, residents can pick up forms such as city employment applications and Steamboat Springs City Council agendas at City Hall, 137 10th St.

"It's very difficult for any organization to keep up with security, as fast as things are moving. People in my business, this is what we lose sleep over," Morrison said. "And I lose more sleep when the (city's) site is not running."

- To reach Mike Lawrence, call 871-4203

or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com