Forwarded From: Aleph One <aleph1@dfw.net>
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,20833,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh
Suspected NASA hacker nabbed
By Reuters
Special to CNET NEWS.COM
April 6, 1998, 4:55 p.m. PT
TORONTO, Ontario--A 22-year-old Canadian man suspected of breaking
into a [47]NASA Web site and causing tens of thousands of dollars in
damage has been arrested by Canadian Mounties.
The [48]Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the northern Ontario city of
Sudbury charged Jason Mewhiney with mischief, illegal entry, and
willfully obstructing, interrupting, and interfering with the lawful
use of data, Corporal Alain Charbot said today.
Charbot said the unemployed former part-time computer science student
was "very knowledgeable" when it came to computer systems. Mewhiney
was arrested on April 1.
Canadian police were tipped off 14 months ago by [49]FBI agents in
Washington, who were investigating security breaches into computer
systems at NASA.
More than $70,000 worth of damage was caused at the NASA Web site and
officials were forced to rebuild the site and change security, Charbot
said.
The FBI tracked the hacker by tracing telephone numbers to the Sudbury
area.
The Mounties raided the homes of Mewhiney's divorced parents and
seized an ancient computer, a second basic computer, a high-speed
modem, diskettes, and documents.
Charbot said police were still investigating breaks at several
Canadian college and university sites.
The number of charges has not yet been released, but for each count
there is a maximum penalty of one year in jail and fines of thousands
of dollars, Charbot said.
Most hackers get a kick out of breaching sites, considering it a
triumph worth boasting about to other hackers.
Charbot said ironically, once hackers are released from police custody
they are prime candidates for cushy corporate jobs, doing the same
type of work--but with the permission of Web site builders.
-o-
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Received on Mon Apr 6 20:34:05 1998