World's biggest hacker held -up to 70years in jail, for UFOs

[BJ_M]

really - they should hire him




A London man described as the "world's biggest computer hacker" has been arrested.

Gary McKinnon, 39, was seized by the Met's extradition unit at his Wood Green home.

The unemployed former computer engineer is accused of causing the US government $1billion of damage by breaking into its most secure computers at the Pentagon and Nasa. He is likely to be extradited to America to face eight counts of computer crime in 14 states and could be jailed for 70 years.


The former Highgate Wood comprehensive-pupil was granted bail today at Bow Street Magistrates' Court.

Most of the alleged hacking took place in 2001 and 2002. At one stage the US thought it was the work of the al Qaeda terror network.

Friends said that he broke into the networks from his home computer to try to prove his theory that the US was covering up the existence of UFOs.

He is accused of a series of hacking offences including deleting "critical" files from military computers. The US authorities said the cost of tracking him down and correcting the alleged problems was more than £570,000. The offences could also see him fined up to £950,000 if found guilty on all charges.

He was arrested yesterday evening but the US first issued an indictment against him in November 2002.

Prosecutor Paul McNulty alleged that McKinnon, known online as "Solo," had perpetrated "the biggest hack of military computers ever". He was named as the chief suspect after a series of electronic break-ins occurred over 12 months at 92 separate US military and Nasa networks.

McKinnon was also accused of hacking into the networks of six private companies and organisations.

It is alleged that he used software available on the internet to scan tens of thousands of computers on US military networks from his home PC, looking for machines that might be exposed due to flaws in the Windows operating system.

Many of the computers he broke into were protected by easy-to-guess passwords, investigators said. In some cases, McKinnon allegedly shut down the computer systems he invaded.

The charge sheet alleges that he hacked into an army computer at Fort Myer, Virginia, where he obtained codes, information and commands before deleting about 1,300 user accounts.

Other systems he hacked into included the Pentagon's network and US army, navy and air force computers.

Reports when he was first indicted said that McKinnon found his career as a computer engineer tedious.

One message updating old schoolfriends on a website read simply: "Computers (Yawn)".

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."

Outside court, his solicitor Karen Todner said he was disappointed it had taken the authorities this long to bring him to court.

She said: "This decision for extradition is driven by the American government. Mr McKinnon intends to contest this case most vigorously.

"Of particular concern to him is the treatment of other British nationals under the American judicial system which inspires little confidence.

"We believe that as a British national, he should be tried here in our courts by a British jury and not in the US."

[adam]

Not sure why he had to go to all that trouble to prove the existence of aliens. All he had to do was look in the mirror.

Wonder if this guy will find prison more exciting...

[BJ_M]

That they spent a Billion $$ to track him down and fix the holes is more scary than this guy hacking their systems ..

Considering he was doing it from his home PC ...

Like I said - they should hire him as a consultant instead of throwing him in jail -- just throw him some alien docs every few years and the guy would work for peanuts ..

[Mister Flonk-Flonk]

Hiring him might have been an option, but his intentions were clearly malicious and as such he should just be tossed down the memory hole and forgotten.

[BJ_M]

he was accused of being malicious, but no proof of this is in evidence other than a verbal statement - and it is proved that he NEVER downloaded any material ....


you can draw your own conclusions about 'egg on face'

[AlecWest]

really - they should hire him

The Americans or the British? It will be interesting to see what they do with him. He committed the crime on his computer ... and he and the computer were on British soil when it occurred. The fact that he's hired a lawyer to fight extradition in interesting. If you read Clifford Stoll's book, "The Cuckoo's Egg," he tells the story of a guy known as the Hanover Hacker who broke into a lot of secure computers (including the nuclear testing facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico) from his home in Germany, selling secrets to the KGB. And, he was tried, convicted, and incarcerated in Germany. If UK law is similar to German law, she may cite the Hanover Hacker matter as a precedent to be considered by the British court ... to use it to keep him in the U.K. After all, why should a UFO conspiracy theorist be extradited when a bonafide spy selling secrets is not?

[BJ_M]

The british should hire him to spy on the US (and the french) and Prince C and the Spice Girls

[Mister Flonk-Flonk]

he was accused of being malicious, but no proof of this is in evidence other than a verbal statement - and it is proved that he NEVER downloaded any material ....


you can draw your own conclusions about 'egg on face'

That's nice. So what.

[BJ_M]

Mister Flonk-Flonk


are you in the same forum as the rest of us here?

every post of yours - seems a little 'off the mark' so to speak

[otpw1]

That they spent a Billion $$ to track him down and fix the holes is more scary than this guy hacking their systems ..

Considering he was doing it from his home PC ...

Like I said - they should hire him as a consultant instead of throwing him in jail -- just throw him some alien docs every few years and the guy would work for peanuts ..

I bet they plea him out to consult.

[smearbrick1]

Those details about deleting user accounts and other little mischievious deeds sound a little bit misplaced for this guy. Let's see, you are a super hacker... you've just hacked into an American military computer looking for UFO secrets, you don't find any... so you delete over 1000 user accounts? Sounds awfully amateurish if you ask me. I would be more inclined to believe those details were planted in the story to make the guy seem just a bit more detestible. Notice how they didn't really include the details of anything he may have accessed (whether ambiguously or specifically) yet included only the malicious mischief. Something sounds fishy... and I'm not usually the conspiracy theorist.
I'm thinking the US may want this guy for more than to just convict of his crimes.

[AlecWest]

Something sounds fishy... and I'm not usually the conspiracy theorist. I'm thinking the US may want this guy for more than to just convict of his crimes.

Like maybe he did find evidence of a UFO cover-up? He claims he didn't ... but maybe he (and the US government) knows otherwise. Woo woo...

[smearbrick1]

Something sounds fishy... and I'm not usually the conspiracy theorist. I'm thinking the US may want this guy for more than to just convict of his crimes.

Like maybe he did find evidence of a UFO cover-up? He claims he didn't ... but maybe he (and the US government) knows otherwise. Woo woo... :shock:

No, nothing like that. Maybe I shouldn't have even included the US wanting him for more comment. I don't want to fan the flames of a conspiracy theory. It just seems like whenever there is a story like this, there is little bits and pieces added to make his "crimes" just a little more heinous than that of a simple hack in and look around type deal. Like I said, he seems like he's beyond the "let's hack in and wreak havoc on the whole thing". I imagine he has the knowhow, but what's to gain? If he truly was looking for evidence of the existence of UFO's (once again, maybe another smokescreen to cover up the real reason why he was in their computers snooping around. - Oh god... I sound like a conspiracy theorist). I guess I just don't put much stock in what I read in the press.

[Mister Flonk-Flonk]

Mister Flonk-Flonk


are you in the same forum as the rest of us here?

every post of yours - seems a little 'off the mark' so to speak

You gotta be flonking me.
.

[thecoalman]

Mister Flonk-Flonk


are you in the same forum as the rest of us here?

every post of yours - seems a little 'off the mark' so to speak

You gotta be flonking me.
.

STFU