http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO59921,00.html.html
By LINDA ROSENCRANCE
April 24, 2001
A 15-year-old Connecticut youth faces charges of hacking into a
government computer system that tracks the positions of U.S. Air Force
planes worldwide, according to government officials.
Officials said the air control data, considered confidential in peace
time and secret in times of war, wasn't compromised and no one's
safety was jeopardized.
The teen, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was
13 when he allegedly hacked into the secure connection between the Air
Mobility Command system at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill.
and a U.S. Department of Transportation computer system at the Volpe
Center in Cambridge, Mass. The hack occurred on March 28, 2000,
officials said.
The suspect faces criminal charges for the break-in from the Cambridge
Juvenile Court, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Tom
Reilly, whose office is prosecuting the case. The office of U.S.
Attorney Daniel Stern handled the initial investigation.
"The computer networks that were attacked here provide important
services to our government and our Armed Forces; they are not
playgrounds for teenagers to explore," Reilly said in statement.
An Air Force systems administrator discovered that someone had broken
into the computer systems March 28, 2000, officials said. The Air
Force and DOT investigators set up monitoring teams inside the Volpe
Center and at Scott Air Force Base to trace any further intrusions.
They determined that on March 30 and March 31, 2000, an intruder
entered the Volpe Center's system and used a "sniffer" program to
secretly intercept all wire communications, officials said. The hacker
also ran a program that destroyed the electronic data files that
recorded his presence on the system. Total damage to the systems was
about $66,000 officials said. Officials said the breach through which
the teen gained access to the computers has been closed.
By April 11, 2000, Air Force investigators had traced the intrusions
to the teenager's Connecticut home. DOT and other government agents
then executed a search warrant at the teen's home, where they seized
computers that were allegedly used to hack into the government
systems, according to officials.
"Although the intruder in this instance was a juvenile, the damage to
Air Force systems was significant," Air Force Special Agent C. Damon
Hecker, said in the statement.
Air Force officials couldn't be reached for further comment.
Steven Aftergood, who runs the Project on Government Secrecy at the
Federation of American Scientists in Washington, said the Air Forces
systems were simply not secure.
"There are a handful of very bright [13]-year-olds out there who can
do remarkable things, and there are not-so-bright [13]-year-olds who
have access to software designed by others to [detect] and explore
security vulnerabilities," Aftergood said.
Aftergood said that at any moment, someone is testing the security of
government and nongovernment computer systems. The problem, he said,
is that administrators pay attention to potential security
vulnerabilities only after their systems have been hacked, not before.
"You only install a burglar alarm after your house has been broken
into," he said.
The teen will be charged with one count of malicious destruction of
property, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years; one count
of illegally intercepting wire communications for operating a sniffer
program on the Volpe Center computer, which carries a maximum sentence
of five years; and four counts of unauthorized access to a computer
system, each of which carries a maximum of 30 days.
However, according to Massachusetts Assistant District Attorney John
Grossman, because the teen is being charged as a juvenile, he could
face being incarcerated only until he is 21, and if he is found
guilty, he is expected to receive a lesser punishment.
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Received on Thu Apr 26 02:50 CDT 2001