Two accused of conspiring to hack into CWRU system
Thursday, March 26, 1998
By MARK ROLLENHAGEN
PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
A federal grand jury yesterday indicted two Cleveland Heights
residents on felony computer hacking charges.
Rebecca L. Ching, 27, and Jason E. Demelo, 22, who authorities
said live in an apartment on Mayfield Rd., are accused of conspiring
to hack into the computer system at Case Western Reserve University
between October 1995 and June 1997.
Ching was a systems administrator for a computer system on the CWRU
campus network during at least a portion of the conspiracy, the
indictment said.
She is accused of helping Demelo hack into the CWRU system by directing
him to install a "sniffer" program capable of intercepting electronic
information, including user names and passwords.
Federal prosecutors would not say why Ching and Demelo allegedly sought
to hack into the system.
Neither could be reached to comment.
Tom Shrout, director of communications for CWRU, said Ching worked part
time for the university in its information sciences division three or
four years ago.
The case is believed to be the first federal computer hacking case brought
in Northern Ohio since the FBI organized a computer crime unit last year.
Demelo is also charged with seven counts of illegally intercepting
electronic communications sent to other universities, including Cleveland
State University, George Mason University and the University of Minnesota,
and Internet providers, including Modern Exploration, APK Net Ltd., and
New Age Consulting Service, and Cyber Access, a software company.
-o-
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Received on Fri Mar 27 04:23:33 1998