[ISN] UK teen escapes jail in nuclear lab hack case

From: William Knowles (wk@private)
Date: Tue Feb 03 2004 - 03:51:21 PST

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    http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35280.html
    
    By John Leyden
    Posted: 02/02/2004 
    
    A UK teenager who admits breaking into the network of Fermilab, a US
    high-energy physics research lab has escaped imprisonment.
    
    Joseph McElroy, 18, from Woodford Green in East London, was today
    sentenced to 200 hours community service at a hearing at Southwark
    Crown Court this afternoon.
    
    Passing sentence, Judge Goymer told McElroy: "You have only just
    escaped prison." People found guilty of similar offences in the future
    would not be so fortunate, he said.
    
    Fermilab had pressed for £21,215 compensation from McElroy, but he
    escaped a fine, on the grounds that he had no means to pay.
    
    McElroy pleaded guilty to hacking into 17 computers at the Fermi
    National Accelerator Laboratory in June 2002 at a hearing at Bow
    Street Magistrates' Court last October. His actions contravened the
    UK's Computer Misuse Act.
    
    McElroy's escapades was described by the prosecution as the low-end of
    hacking. And the Crown accepted that the youth had no malicious
    intent. But his actions had serious consequences, even though his
    objective was only to use the lab's network to download films and
    music from the Net. The lab's computer systems had to be shut down for
    three days once the intrusion - which triggered a full-scale alert -
    was discovered. Fermi Lab is run by the US Department of Energy.
    
    It was quickly established that classified systems were not accessed,
    but the authorities pressed ahead with a prosecution.
    
    US investigators tracked the intrusion to the UK before passing the
    case over to Scotland Yard's Computer Crime Unit; it in turn tracked
    McElroy to his parent's home in east London.
    
    
    
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