OSTON (AP) [5.19.98] An Argentine computer hacker pleaded guilty Tuesday to breaking into a Harvard University computer to gain access to U.S. military documents. Under the plea agreement, Julio Cesar Ardita will serve three years probation in Argentina and pay a $5,000 fine. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Ardita returned to the United States voluntarily from his native Argentine to face charges of illegal wiretapping and computer crimes. "If we aren't vigilant, cyber crime will turn the Internet into the Wild West of the 21st century," Attorney General Janet Reno said. "The Justice Department is determined to pursue cyber-criminals at home and abroad." More than a year ago federal agents used the first ever court-ordered wiretap of a computer network to track down the the 23-year-old computer science student and son of a former Argentine military officer. During the summer of 1995, the defense department noticed several intrusions into military and university computer systems containing sensitive information. The intrusions, which occurred from July 12 to Dec. 28, 1995, were traced to an Internet host computer at Harvard University. In that November and December, a court-ordered wiretap was placed on a computer run by Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences on the Internet. Ardita's computer and files were seized in December by order of Argentine Federal Judge Wilma Lopez. Law enforcement officers have done surveillance without a wiretap order on computer systems that warn users their communications might be monitored, but Harvard's system didn't have such a warning. Authorities said Ardita broke into the Harvard computer first in August 1995, stole passwords from some of its 16,500 legitimate users and used the computer to penetrate military, NASA and other university computers on the Internet. Ardita also illegally accessed computers at the California Institute of Technology, the University of Massachusetts and Northeastern University, as well as sites in Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Chile and Brazil, authorities said. His activities were first detected at the Naval Command Control and Ocean Surveillance Center, which contained information on aircraft design, radar technology and satellite engineering. A government computer program called Eyewatch searched all communications on the Harvard computer for Ardita's telltale trademarks so investigators could pick them out to read. Ardita regularly referred to himself as "el griton," Spanish for "the screamer," and referred to his electronic bulletin board of the same name. He had used the same name years earlier on another electronic bulletin board which was posted on the Internet. Authorities said Ardita accessed some sensitive information on satellites, radiation and energy, but said none was vital to national security. == There's a compelling reason to master information & news. Clearly there will be better job and financial opportunites. Other high stakes will be missed by people if they don't master and connect information. -- Everette Dennis == http://www.dis.org/erehwon/ -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
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