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Teen hacker triggered nuclear terrorism alert
SMH ^

Posted on 02/03/2004 3:04:47 PM PST by Hal1950

A British teenager has narrowly escaped jail after sparking a nuclear panic by hacking into a top secret United States weapons laboratory.

Joseph McElroy, 18, who on Monday was ordered to serve a 200-hour community punishment order, bypassed the facility's electronic security systems with sophisticated software he had developed and nicknamed Deathserv.

McElroy wanted to use the advanced network's power to download and store films and music from the internet.

London's Southwark Crown Court heard that in June 2002, he used a special password to protect his collection and cover up his "parasitic" invasion.

But so many of his fellow hackers also accessed the system at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois that it began to slow down. Technicians discovered the breach and "pressed the panic button". Fearing a terrorist attack, the computer was closed down for three days and the US Department of Energy sounded a full-scale alert.

Officers at Scotland Yard's computer crimes unit were contacted and quickly traced the then-16-year-old student to his east London home.

McElroy, now a first-year engineering undergraduate, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorised modification of the contents of a computer.

Judge Andrew Goymer told him he ought to "think yourself lucky" he was not going to jail. "Computers are an important feature of life in the 21st century. Government, industry and commerce, as well as a whole variety of other institutions, depend upon the integrity and reliability of their computers in order their proper and legitimate activities can be carried on."

As the slightly built, bespectacled defendant stood in the dock, Mr Goymer said no criticism could be levelled at the way US authorities responded to the security breach.

"One can well understand why their initial reaction was to think that a terrorist attack had been made to compromise that computer," he said. "It caused a great deal of damage and expense amounting to £21,000 ($50,300)." The judge said he had to think "long and hard" how best to punish McElroy for what was clearly a "serious" offence.

While "giving you the benefit of the doubt" and accepting that McElroy was initially unaware whose system he was hacking into, Parliament had intended such conduct be dealt with severely.

It was important the "wrong message is not sent out to anybody else who is tempted to behave in this way", he said.

However, said the judge, McElroy's previous good character, the fact he had not caused any actual harm and had not accessed any classified material meant prison was not necessary in this case.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: 0wn3db4by; anklebiters; doe; hackers; nukes; ownedbaby; scriptkiddies; securitybreach

1 posted on 02/03/2004 3:04:47 PM PST by Hal1950
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To: Hal1950
McElroy?

Wasn't that some user that was on Freerepublic?

2 posted on 02/03/2004 3:11:59 PM PST by yonif ("If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem, Let My Right Hand Wither" - Psalms 137:5)
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To: Hal1950
If there's any crime in all this, it is the poor security posture of the Fermi labs personnel. They got 0wn3d by a scriptkiddy anklebiter and didn't notice until their bandwidth got horked? Where was their Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS)? Where was their Host IDS (HIDS)? Why weren't Internet-facing systems hardened against remote attack? Hell, if they had been hit by an accomplished hacker, chances are they'd still be doing what they were doing and would be 0wn3d six ways to Sunday and wouldn't have a clue!
3 posted on 02/03/2004 3:15:29 PM PST by Prime Choice (I'm pro-choice. I just think the "choice" should be made *before* having sex.)
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4 posted on 02/03/2004 3:19:20 PM PST by george wythe
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To: Hal1950
However, said the judge, McElroy's previous good character, the fact he had not caused any actual harm and had not accessed any classified material meant prison was not necessary in this case.

However, said Sarge, a double-hand amputation and a 72-hour lockup with an exceptionally large guy named Sweet LeRoy might suffice...

5 posted on 02/03/2004 3:25:28 PM PST by Old Sarge
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To: george wythe
That movie was so good....and I was thinking it while reading the story.
6 posted on 02/03/2004 3:26:15 PM PST by Freedom2specul8 (Please pray for our troops.... http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/)
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To: Prime Choice; Jeremiah Jr; dighton; aculeus; hellinahandcart; In_25_words_or_less; general_re

"He was on a mission from God"

7 posted on 02/03/2004 3:29:45 PM PST by Thinkin' Gal
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To: george wythe
Ally McSheely Landry McGraw McBeal was so cute in that.
8 posted on 02/03/2004 3:34:53 PM PST by In_25_words_or_less
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To: Hal1950
How about a nice game of chess?
9 posted on 02/03/2004 3:35:59 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (. . . sed, ut scis, quis homines huiusmodi intellegere potest?. . .)
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To: Hal1950
Hmmm, is the lad 16 or 18? The writer of the article uses both ages. Either way, I always marvel at the ingenuity of hackers at such a tender young age!
10 posted on 02/03/2004 3:36:44 PM PST by Donna Lee Nardo
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To: Donna Lee Nardo
16 when it happend, 18 now
11 posted on 02/03/2004 3:39:33 PM PST by OneTimeLurker
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To: Hal1950
Nice to know teenagers can still hack into top secret N labs from around the world.

Attention US officials: YOU ARE INCOMPETENT ASSCLOWNS. ASSCLOWNS!!!
12 posted on 02/06/2004 4:36:44 PM PST by tubavil
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