Forwarded From: 7Pillars Partners <partnersat_private> Cracker Pal Turns on Analyzer by Tania Hershman 9:15 a.m. 24.May.99.PDT JERUSALEM -- There may be honor among thieves, but not, it appears, among crackers. One of the four Israelis indicted with Ehud Tenebaum in February for cracking into US and Israeli government computer systems last year has agreed to testify against Tenebaum in exchange for a lighter sentence. Tenebaum appeared Sunday in the Magistrates Court in Kfar Saba, just outside Tel Aviv, to answer the indictment against him. But when Barak Abutbul reached a plea bargain agreement, the court postponed the trial for one month. "It did not come as a surprise to me," said Tenebaum, 20. "I expected it." Tenebaum's lawyer, Shmuel Tzang, said he was "not worried" by the developments, or by the possibility that any of the remaining three -- Guy Fleisher, Ariel Rosenfeld, or Rafael Ohana -- might agree to testify against his client. Tenebaum, who used the cracking alias Analyzer, was arrested in March 1998 following an investigation that involved five US federal agencies and at least 30 FBI agents. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of breaking into a number of computer systems, including those at NASA, the Pentagon, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and Stanford universities. Tenebaum is also accused of cracking the Israeli Parliament system, as well as the Internet accounts of individuals and companies held by two Israeli Internet service providers. Israeli authorities believe Tenebaum was the ringleader of the group. They think he tutored the others in the art of cracking, with the help of the Trojan horse and sniffer programs found in his possession. None of the five are in custody. The trial is now scheduled to begin 24 June. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Tenebaum's lawyer plans to question whether Israel even has laws appropriate for prosecuting activity over the Internet. He will also question whether or not his client can be prosecuted for offenses against foreign organizations. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: OSAll [www.aviary-mag.com]
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