Forwarded From: William Knowles <erehwon@kizmiaz.dis.org>
(Washington Post) [2.12.99] A freshman at James Madison High School in
Vienna has jailed after allegedly hacking into Clemson University's
computer system and causing thousands of dollars in damages, and then
trying to enter NASA's system from a computer in his school library.
An 18-year-old Clemson student also has been charged in the case, accused
of giving the 15-year-old Vienna youth the user IDs and passwords that
enabled his entry to the computer science laboratory's network at the
South Carolina school. After that incident, Fairfax County police seized
the Vienna student's home computer, but a week later the youth allegedly
tried and failed to hack into computers at the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration.
The Vienna student was arrested Feb. 1 on charges of felony computer
trespass and misdemeanor computer fraud and taken to the county's juvenile
detention center. His father declined comment last night. The Washington
Post generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes.
The FBI and police in South Carolina unraveled the chain of events after
someone entered the computer science department's computers the weekend of
Oct. 17. The hacker removed parts of the operating system on numerous
computers in the department's computer lab, causing the cancellation of
several computer classes and impeding several others, according to Fairfax
County court records.
The break-in required Clemson programmers to rebuild the department's
operating system and reissue more than 1,500 user identifications. The
episode cost Clemson's computer science department about $6,300,
university Police Chief Lonnie Saxon said.
FBI agents tracked down the student whose user identification had been
used to enter the computer system, and he reportedly told agents he had
given his password to a 15-year-old living in Virginia. The agents tracked
the 15-year-old to his Internet providers, Bell Atlantic Internet
Solutions and a service called webFreaks, and subpoenaed records to locate
him in Vienna, court records show.
Police seized the youth's computer, monitor and modem on Jan. 20, along
with assorted papers and 28 diskettes.
While detectives were assembling the case, police believe, the student
entered the high school library at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 26, logged on to the
Internet and tried to enter NASA's computers. Police said a security
officer at NASA detected the attempt, tracked it to the school computers
and notified Fairfax police.
Investigators checked logs of the library's computer users for the morning
of Jan. 26 and found the student they already were investigating, police
spokeswoman Gretchen Lacharite said.
A NASA spokesman said the agency does not comment on attempts to penetrate
its various computer systems. Police said the attempt was not successful.
Internet access in Fairfax County schools is basically unfettered,
district spokesman Paul Regnier said. "Kids can come into the library and
get on the Internet," Regnier said. "It's pretty open."
On Monday, authorities in South Carolina arrested Steven Ray McAlister,
18, of Pelzer, S.C., and charged him with conspiracy to commit computer
crime, naming the Vienna youth as his co-conspirator. McAlister, a
freshman majoring in computer science, was released on $373 bond.
Steven D. Stone, the attorney for the Vienna youth, said the student's
family "believes the child understands the serious nature of the charges,
and the family's efforts, working together with the child, will be to
positively direct his talents and his energy and his intellect."
Stone said the youth has been a good student making good grades and "has
begun demonstrating some talents for a number of 21st century endeavors.
Hopefully the system will take into account his youth and the fact he can
have a very bright future if he's given the ability to go forward."
-o-
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Received on Thu Mar 11 17:23:16 1999