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| Fifth Column |
| 2005-07-28 |
| A Briton facing extradition to America for perpetrating "the biggest computer hack of all time" left a message criticising American foreign policy on an army computer, a court heard yesterday. Gary McKinnon, 39, From one Gary to another, change your name, creep. is accused of accessing 97 US government computers, causing damage estimated at $700,000. An extradition hearing at Bow Street magistrates' court was told that McKinnon, of Wood Green, north London, deleted files that shut down more than 2,000 computers in the US army's military district of Washington for 24 hours "significantly disrupting governmental function". It was claimed he left a note on an army computer in 2002 saying US foreign policy was "akin to government-sponsored terrorism". The note allegedly said: "It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year. I am Solo. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels." McKinnon is accused of 20 counts relating to the American army, navy and air force, Nasa and the Department of Defence. One allegation is that he deleted files and logs from computers at the US Naval Weapons Station Earle at a critical time after the Twin Towers attacks, rendering the base's network of 300 computers inoperable. Mark Summers, for the American government, said: "The defendant was acting from his own computer in London. He effectively owned those computers by virtue of the software he had transmitted. His conduct was intentional and calculated to influence and affect the US government by intimidation and coercion." It is also alleged that McKinnon obtained secret passwords or information which might become "indirectly useful to an enemy", and interfered with maritime navigation facilities in New Jersey. When McKinnon was indicted, Paul McNulty, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said: "Mr McKinnon is charged with the biggest computer hack of all time." The hearing was adjourned until Oct 18. |
| Posted by:Jackal |
| #6 That's not funny! |
| Posted by: Ned Beatty 2005-07-28 14:12 |
| #5 Yeeeesh! Give him a banjo and a rocking chair and you've got a remake of "Deliverance"... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-07-28 13:47 |
| #4 guy looks like an evil elf. |
| Posted by: Thush Shaiter3768 2005-07-28 13:30 |
| #3 There's a picture of the slime on Drudge. I'd love to beat that smirk right off his face. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2005-07-28 10:44 |
| #2 Actually this guy unintentionally did some good which is to point out the terrible state of the US Information Infrastructure and the unified lack of security and standards. We should be really thankful that this was not during some major engagement and being done by an enemy who realized that they could cause major grief at the same time of an attack. What they should do is offer him a deal where his sentence option is Jail and fines or long term service to the US and UK governments cracking systems and doing security audits. |
| Posted by: Robi Sen 2005-07-28 10:33 |
| #1 CRACKER, goddamnit! Sheesh. And the idea is not to get caught, genius.... |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-07-28 10:18 |