Boy of 17 hacks into missile secrets

Assoicated Newspapers Limited ^ | 6/14/02 | Standard Foreign News Desk

[Rebelbase]

The Pentagon has had its second major intelligence embarrassment in a week after a teenager in Austria hacked into secret plans, including the location of US nuclear missiles.

The exploits of Markus Hirsch, 17, come only days after British surveillance enthusiast John Locker was able to hack into US spy satellite pictures.

Now an FBI team is on its way to Vienna to question Markus. Their big fear is that Osama bin Laden followers may have enjoyed similar access for months.

American protection of its secrets has never been higher since 11 September, with even the most conservative estimates saying at least £7billion has gone into bolstering security.

But from the computer in his bedroom, Markus was able to get into the most classified Pentagon sites, including the one which details the silos where missiles with multi-megaton warheads are kept.

"Cracking into the Pentagon was child's play," said the teenager. "I know my way round the internet."

Markus, who lived with his mother in Germany for a while when his parents split up, eventually moved into a small flat in Vienna where he now lives alone.

He added: "I don't know anyone here, apart from my granny, so I surf all night on the internet."

[1bigdictator]

It is so sad it makes you laugh.

[Rebelbase]

"But Al Gore invented the internet"

Its all his fault for not forseeing the monster he created.

[Ken H]

"Cracking into the Pentagon was child's play," said the teenager. "Lookit what the missile does when I push this button!"

[Coop]

Markus was able to get into the most classified Pentagon sites

I find this very hard to believe. I think it's overblown rhetoric. Classified and unclassified networks are physically separated. I'd like to know how a hacker overcomes that, short of tapping into a line. Undoubtedly the kid got into a sensitive area he wasn't supposed to, but the nation's deepest, darkest secrets? I eagerly await more information on this story.

[RadioAstronomer]

Me too. Missile silo locations are not hard to see from the air. I was not even aware that the locations themselves were classified. I think this is an overblown news story.

[Myrddin]

This is an inexcusable security breach. Computers with classified information are forbidden from having a connection to the internet. The security officer in charge of the computer and network needs some serious prison time.

[Missiekins]

WOPR: Shall we play a game?

The only winning move is not to play.

[TexasRepublic]

If the "big boys" are being hacked, all too frequently, it is demonstrably dangerous to use the Internet as the information backbone of our society. How can you ever know for sure that your bank account, credit cards, medical records, etc. are safe if the "pros" can't keep out a teen-aged hacker? How can the average user really prove and know his firewall is secure? Are the security company whiz kids really as sharp as they portray themselves? Internet security looks like an illusion.

[Plumrodimus]

They should hire that kid.

[bok]

He's a foreign national not an americans and this teenager needs a prison cell.

[Nick Danger]

This deserves shouting:

Why would the locations of US missles be available on the Internet? Why the hell is info like that even near a hub that's even remotely connected to a public network?

I have gone into business peddling my patented Jet Cooling Gel. It gives fast, fast, fast relief from newspaper stories about subjects that most newspaper reporters wouldn't know from Shinola. It prevents high blood pressure and possible heart attack when journalists with liberal arts degrees start writing about highly technical subjects that are out of their league.

I think you need a tube. It will tide you over until we find out what this kid actually found out. If it's that there are missile silos in North Dakota, we could all cool our jets a bit.