The BBC reports of a UK hacker who’s about to be extradited to the US on some serious charges:
A British man who allegedly hacked into US military and Nasa computer networks has been arrested, say Scotland Yard.
Gary McKinnon, 39, of Wood Green, north London, faces extradition proceedings over claims he hacked into 53 military and Nasa computers in 2001 and 2002.
The US government believe tracking and correcting the alleged problems has cost around $1m (£570,000).
Mr McKinnon is being held at a central London police station and will appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court.
Mr McKinnon was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service Extradition Unit on Tuesday night around 1830BST.
The unemployed computer systems administrator, who is known on the internet as `Solo’, is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
……
He is accused of then deleting around 1,300 user accounts.
The indictment alleged Mr McKinnon also “deleted critical system files” on the computer, copied a file containing usernames and encrypted passwords for the computer, in addition to installing tools to gain unauthorised access to other computers.
A loss of over $5,000 (£2,725) to the Army stemmed from the alleged damage, according to the indictment.
At the time of the indictment, Paul McNulty, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said: “Mr McKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time.”
And all this while the guy was unemployed. Hell of a way to beat boredom. If he is extradited and found guilty, this guy faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a £157,000 fine. I’m really interested to find out what his motivations were and if he’s a hacker or a cracker. This is one to watch closely….
Appendage
According to ThisLondon this dude was hacking to prove the existence of a UFO conspiracy:
Friends said he was desperate to prove that the Americans had mounted a huge cover-up to deny his belief that aliens had visited earth.
Andrew Edwards, who has known McKinnon since their days together at Highgate Wood comprehensive, said in 2002: “Gary told me all he was doing was looking for proof of a cover-up over UFOs.
“He’s been interested in UFOs for some time and believes the Americans are holding back information - although he didn’t find any proof.”
And so the plot thickens…..
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2 responses so far ↓
Tagsin Action // Jun 26, 2005 at 6:19 pm
He should have traded in his black hat for a white one.
Sexy Jihad » Blog Archive » Gary McKinnon Interviewed // Jul 25, 2005 at 11:10 am
[…] The BBC World Service has an interesting interview with Gary McKinnon, who hacked into Military computers to find out the truth about UFOs and now faces 75 years in an American jail: […]
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