Hacker Trashes U.S. Army PCs; Faces 70 Years

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fonzy

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"Hacker Trashes U.S. Army PCs"

He didn't thrash anything he just hacked into them to see if the government was covering up UFO's...if he wanted to damage them he could of did some serious damage.
 

aethm

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I gotta agree with the above post. The US should hire him on in lieu of criminal punishment. Anybody who can hack those systems is seriously talented.
 

TheCapulet

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[citation][nom]zild1221[/nom]If he was able to get into it, he deserves a job with the US government. Not jail time.[/citation]
Hacking into the goverment PC's isnt hard. It's the not getting caught part that makes a good hacker.
 

darkguset

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Hacking goverment computers in a "critical" time? Are they joking? When would not be a critical time for them then? LOL
I don't think it was his fault if their "defense" was a 4 word password for login! Regarding the "damage" they claim he did, what did he actually do? Or are they reffering to their "forced" action to increase the password to 8 letters or even installing a proper firewall? They should have done that BEFORE someone breaks in, not AFTER! Also the man used a dial-up modem, not even broadband! I can imagine the "security" these systems had!
Give the man a break, give him a hefty fine and a warning and let it go. The so called "government" employees were apparently useless to do their job! The above suggestion of hiring him does not sound bad afterall, does it?
Finally the people who were responsible for the computers' security but apprently they were not, they should serve some jail time and not someone who did manage to login not once, but 3 times in the same systems!? What did they do after his first attempt then? Nothing! Great security!
 

Blessedman

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Though... In his defense, if he was able to hack in and just look around there are others that could hack in and not just look around. He should actually be getting off a lot lighter as a thank you for showing how vulnerable they were. I am not saying what he did was right and that he should be let go, but because he helped show a flaw (in a messed up way, but hey if you wanted to know something and it was right there waiting for you to look...) in their security. Oh well...
 
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Are you kidding me? This man broke into government systems. Whether he did any damage or not, it's still illegal!
 

darkguset

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And that is why i said give him a hefty fine not jail time. Come on! There are serial killers that get 30 years or even less for good behaviour, and he will get 70!??? You must be out of your mind or something! Also tracking someone through dial-up or ISDN or broadband is exactly the same, the ISP ALWAYS know which telephone number dials in before they assign an IP address to it. I mentioned the dial-up modem because the hacking procedure would be so much more difficult due to the time it would take him through the connection to do whatever he was doing. Extremely small speed, especially from UK to US!
 

darkguset

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Also illegal is speeding on the roads, smoking near non-smoking signs, etc, thousands of things that we all do each day, some without even knowing, would you accept a 70 year sentence for that? Also by hacking in a computer you are not risking peoples lives like speeding on the road (your car can be considered as a weapon you know), so in theory if a hacker gets 70 years in jail, someone speeding should get at least 100 for life endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon!
 

palladin9479

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Ok darkguset you have no clue what your talking about. The unclass government PC's are behind hardened firewalls and subject to a pretty heavy GPO / security requirements. Passwords are not "four letter" but instead 16 with at least two upper, two lower, two numbers and two "special characters". The only way to "hack" into these systems would be some bot/script off a website run by someone with local admin rights or through deliberate phishing attempts to get login / system info. And the only way to "take down" a network like that is to screw with the firewalls / routers, or start shutting down the AD servers. All of which require a concerted effort and deliberate malicious intent. Dude probably thought he could get something worth a damn off those systems.

This guy should go to jail for awhile, if to do nothing else but to set a precedent / make an example to anyone else wanting to do something stupid. Don't screw with US Government / DoD computer systems -EVER-, its like playing Russian roulette when all six chambers have a round in them.
 

Claimintru

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Except the information for national defense and military weapons/installations could endanger far more lives than someone speeding or drunk driving. Don't be stupid.

Though I am of the mindset they ought to put him on payroll just for being able to hack it.
 

doomsdaydave11

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[citation][nom]grieve[/nom]Interesting, this is the first i have heard of this case.Hacking Government PC's should carry a lofty punishment.[/citation]
Hacking government computers, especially from another country, should = death imo.
 

Harby

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[citation][nom]doomsdaydave11[/nom]Hacking government computers, especially from another country, should = death imo.[/citation]

You kidding me? Rapists and child molesters don't get death sentence and a hacker will?
 

NuclearShadow

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[citation][nom]doomsdaydave11[/nom]Hacking government computers, especially from another country, should = death imo.[/citation]

I doubt you were be saying such if this was a American hacker who tarted North Korea or Iran. Then you would probably be praising him and find it absurd to hand him over to his certain death.

Besides if hacking government's is to much for you to handle do you think we should stop all of our intelligence programs that spy on other nations? Would our spies or even our whole intelligence agency be executed if it were up to you? They have a much larger effect than any lone hacker like this one on trial.
 

m3kt3k

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He may have gotten a job offer and foolishly turned it down. Had a friend that hacked into a collage and they found him. He was given two choices. Trial or parttime Admin. He chose admin.
 
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He hacked 4 times because he is an Asperger, not because he was a criminal. Aspergers are obsessive with some things, and he probably wanted to hack the place in different ways and compare results.

Also, what kind of damage did he cause? $700.000 damages to 2.000 computers equals to $350 for PC, so it's not like he destroyed them. I bet that most of the damage is actually the amount of money spent trying to identify him!!!
 
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