Forwarded From: malat_private http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/14856.html Rogue Hackers Gallery by Daryl Lindsey 8:35pm 4.Sep.98.PDT The investigation into Kevin Mitnick's alleged hacking crimes is just one recent example of the FBI cranking up its computer crimes investigations. In the wake of recent Pentagon network break-ins, which forced the hand of the US Justice Department and defense advisers to do serious network security soul searching, the feds are intensifying their efforts to halt computer crime. The number of pending FBI investigations into computer intrusions in 1998 has grown to 480, a 133 percent increase over 1997. Despite the hurdles investigators face tracking bit bandits, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken down some of the country's most notorious. Here's a rundown of memorable convictions in the past decade: ROBERT TAPPAN MORRIS Convicted in 1990 Sentence: three years probation, community service, fine Robert Morris' worm virus wrought such havoc on the Internet when it was unfurled on 2 November 1988 that curators at the Boston Computer Museum keep a copy in its historical collection. Morris, a scrappy 24-year-old Cornell University grad student, cited two inspirations behind his mischievous keying: Shockwave Rider by John Brunner -- a book about a gearhead warrior who tries to overthrow a network-dependent government by infesting its autocratic information arteries with a program called a "worm" -- and his own computer research. Reproducing like mosquitoes on a bayou in summer, Morris' worm caused millions of dollars in damage at infected universities, NASA, the military, and other federal government agencies, and choked about 10 percent of Internet traffic. One of the first big trials held after the passage of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, Morris was convicted in 1990 and sentenced to three years probation and 400 hours of community service. He was also fined US$10,000, and suspended from Cornell. LEGION OF DOOM Convicted in 1990 Sentences: 14 to 21 months in prison "Basically, they wanted to own 'Ma Bell,'" said Assistant US Attorney Kent Alexander, describing the hacking ambitions of the Atlanta branch of Legion of Doom to a Newsday reporter. The group, taking its cue from the villains of the popular Superfriends cartoon, turned BellSouth into their own Hall of Doom, hacking and copying the telco's 911 network. BellSouth sniffed out the group in 1990 and turned them over to the FBI. The Legion was also known for marginally less nefarious hacks: breaking into phone company computers, seizing phone lines, and eavesdropping on phone conversations. Two Legion members were convicted of conspiracy and another for possession of illegal access devices and intent to defraud. Franklin Darden, 24, and Adam Grant, 22, both got 14-month prison sentences; Robert Riggs, 22, got 21 months. The network-menacing triumvirate were also forced to pay US$223,000 in restitution. KEVIN POULSEN Convicted in 1991 Sentence: four years in prison, three-year ban from computer use, fine Armed with the "Trash-80" his parents gave him, Dark Dante (Kevin Poulsen) was adept at trespassing ARPANET and other government and private networks. Still a teen when first caught in 1983, Poulsen was offered the typical post-hacker glam job as a security expert with hush-hush government-contractor SRI International in Menlo Park, California. Poulsen spent his evenings hacking and breaking into Pacific Bell's innermost nodes. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Poulsen was a bit of a cheater -- he was an ace at picking locks, and would break into phone company offices and steal gear and manuals that would provide guides to the network once he hacked it. He was charged with computer crimes, espionage (a charge later dropped), and telephone fraud in 1990, but taunted prosecutors with his hacking prowess and evaded arrest for 17 months. On the lam, Poulsen seized control of the phone lines at a Los Angeles radio station to win a convertible Porsche and trips to Hawaii. The feds extinguished Dark Dante's inferno in 1991. Poulsen was tried and convicted of computer crimes in relation to his new-found Porsche fetish and given the harshest hacker sentence ever: four years in prison, a US $58,000 fine, and a ban from using computers for three years after his release. MASTERS OF DECEPTION Convicted in 1992 Sentences: six months to one year in prison, community service, probation Operating out of Brooklyn and Queens in New York, the ethnically diverse Masters of Deception sought empowerment and street cred by hacking the networks of blue-chip corporations (including AT&T, Bank of America, and TRW) and the National Security Agency, using disarmingly primitive tools, like Commodore 64 computers. Five members of MOD were tried for computer intrusions and stealing confidential information from credit reports. Convicted in 1992, celebrated Phiber Optik (Mark Abene) was sentenced to one year in jail. Acid Phreak (Eli Ladopoulos) and Scorpion (Paul Stira), were given six-month sentences, community services, and probation. Corrupt (John Lee) was sent to prison for a year. Outlaw (Julio Fernandez) avoided jail time by cooperating with investigators. All were under 22 at the time of their indictment. New York city gave Phiber Optik a homecoming worthy of king when he got released from jail: fellow hackers feted him, and New York magazine named him one of the city's 100 smartest people. JUSTIN TANNER PETERSEN Convicted in 1995 Sentence: 3.5 years in prison, restricted use of computers for three years, fine Agent Steal, as the fast-car and bondage-loving scammer Justin Petersen was known in the hacker community, was arrested in 1993. He pleaded guilty to computer fraud charges for his efforts in rigging the same "Win a Porsche by Friday" radio contest as Kevin Poulsen, and digitally pickpocketing US$150,000 from a Glendale, California, financial services company. Petersen, then 32, agreed to rat on Poulsen and help prosecutors hunt other hackers in exchange for lenient treatment. He even helped agents bust Kevin Mitnick on a parole violation. But Petersen fled when the FBI caught him hacking again -- he was illegally tapping into banks while working with prosecutors. When he was finally convicted in 1995, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, three years probation that allowed him to use computers only at work, and ordered to pay more than US$40,000 restitution. Petersen returned to jail this summer for parole violations. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 13:03:32 PDT