Forwarded From: William Knowles <erehwonat_private> (Washington Post) [2.12.99] A freshman at James Madison High School in Vienna has jailed after allegedly hacking into Clemson University's computer system and causing thousands of dollars in damages, and then trying to enter NASA's system from a computer in his school library. An 18-year-old Clemson student also has been charged in the case, accused of giving the 15-year-old Vienna youth the user IDs and passwords that enabled his entry to the computer science laboratory's network at the South Carolina school. After that incident, Fairfax County police seized the Vienna student's home computer, but a week later the youth allegedly tried and failed to hack into computers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Vienna student was arrested Feb. 1 on charges of felony computer trespass and misdemeanor computer fraud and taken to the county's juvenile detention center. His father declined comment last night. The Washington Post generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes. The FBI and police in South Carolina unraveled the chain of events after someone entered the computer science department's computers the weekend of Oct. 17. The hacker removed parts of the operating system on numerous computers in the department's computer lab, causing the cancellation of several computer classes and impeding several others, according to Fairfax County court records. The break-in required Clemson programmers to rebuild the department's operating system and reissue more than 1,500 user identifications. The episode cost Clemson's computer science department about $6,300, university Police Chief Lonnie Saxon said. FBI agents tracked down the student whose user identification had been used to enter the computer system, and he reportedly told agents he had given his password to a 15-year-old living in Virginia. The agents tracked the 15-year-old to his Internet providers, Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions and a service called webFreaks, and subpoenaed records to locate him in Vienna, court records show. Police seized the youth's computer, monitor and modem on Jan. 20, along with assorted papers and 28 diskettes. While detectives were assembling the case, police believe, the student entered the high school library at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 26, logged on to the Internet and tried to enter NASA's computers. Police said a security officer at NASA detected the attempt, tracked it to the school computers and notified Fairfax police. Investigators checked logs of the library's computer users for the morning of Jan. 26 and found the student they already were investigating, police spokeswoman Gretchen Lacharite said. A NASA spokesman said the agency does not comment on attempts to penetrate its various computer systems. Police said the attempt was not successful. Internet access in Fairfax County schools is basically unfettered, district spokesman Paul Regnier said. "Kids can come into the library and get on the Internet," Regnier said. "It's pretty open." On Monday, authorities in South Carolina arrested Steven Ray McAlister, 18, of Pelzer, S.C., and charged him with conspiracy to commit computer crime, naming the Vienna youth as his co-conspirator. McAlister, a freshman majoring in computer science, was released on $373 bond. Steven D. Stone, the attorney for the Vienna youth, said the student's family "believes the child understands the serious nature of the charges, and the family's efforts, working together with the child, will be to positively direct his talents and his energy and his intellect." Stone said the youth has been a good student making good grades and "has begun demonstrating some talents for a number of 21st century endeavors. Hopefully the system will take into account his youth and the fact he can have a very bright future if he's given the ability to go forward." -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Internet Security Institute [www.isi-sec.com]
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