UK man hacks into US military computers

2002-11-13 11:04

Washington - An unemployed Briton was charged Tuesday with hacking into more than 100 US military and Nasa computers, including a Navy system that was shut down just after the September 11 terrorist attacks, officials said.

The US intends to formally seek the extradition from Britain of Gary McKinnon (36), to face charges of computer fraud handed down by grand juries in Virginia and New Jersey, the justice department said.

"This case is hugely significant in that McKinnon shut down a key station of the navy when they were in a posture of trying to respond to the terrorist attacks not knowing what they would be called upon to do," said Scott Christie, assistant US attorney for New Jersey.

"And if you take in the larger context, and you see he has broken into over a hundred computers - that would be the army, navy, air force and Nasa - it is clear that he is the most prolific military hacker that we are aware of to date," he said.

McKinnon, an unemployed computer administrator who lives in London, could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250 000 dollar fine on each of the eight counts if convicted.

In Virginia, he was accused of breaking into 98 computers belonging to the US military and Nasa and six others belonging to private companies between March 2001 and March 2002.

The New Jersey indictment alleged that McKinnon broke into a network of 300 computers at the Naval Weapon Station Earle in Colts Neck, New Jersey that monitored the battle readiness and resupply of navy ships.

It charged he stole 950 passwords stored on the network's server computers between June 18 and June 21, 2001.

Then in a September 23, 2001 attack he shut down the system by wiping out files that are necessary to power up the machines, the indictment alleges.

The Virginia indictment "charges McKinnon with accessing and damaging without authorization a computer used by the military for national defense and security", the justice department said.

"Other computers hacked by McKinnon include computers located a military bases throughout the United States and the Pentagon," it said.

McKinnon allegedly scanned large numbers of military computers, copying passwords files and other files and deleting a number of user accounts and critical system files, it said.

"Ultimately, McKinnon caused a network in the Washington DC area to shutdown, resulting in the total loss of Internet access and e-mails service to approximately 2 000 users for three days," it said.

The justice department estimated the losses suffered as a result of those break-ins at $900 000.

The indictments followed a 17-month investigation by an array of US military units that specialising in cyber crime and cyber warfare. The United Kingdom's National High Tech Crime Unit also took part. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA