http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/police/3464686.html By PENNY BROWN ROBERTS Advocate staff writer Aug 1, 2006 A Prairieville man has admitted hacking into a national defense contractors computer system to access a Korean satellite known as KOMPSAT. In a 3-year-old Baton Rouge federal court case just unsealed, Shawn Phillip Brady, 32, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of unlawful computer intrusion. He faces up to one year in prison. Brady hacked into the computers of TRW Inc. Space & Technology Division in California in November 1999 from a Roddy Road apartment in Gonzales, where he lived at the time, according to a summary of the case used by prosecutors to support the plea. Once inside, Brady established himself as a system administrator and gave passwords and other information to a source cooperating with federal authorities. Although Brady did not damage the system or download files, the summary says, he looked at satellite location information stored on the system. KOMPSAT is the Korea Aerospace Research Institutes Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the satellite was launched in 1999 and is used for earth observation, scientific experiments and communications. Brady was charged in a May 2003 bill of information and pleaded guilty behind closed doors in October 2003. The case remained a secret until last week to protect an ongoing FBI investigation, U.S. Attorney David Dugas said Monday. This was potentially very dangerous, he said. In this case, the damage appears limited, but I dont have any details beyond that. TRW has since been sold to another defense contractor, Northrup Grumman Corp. Bob Bishop, a spokesman for the companys space technology sector, declined to comment on the case Monday. Attempts to reach Bradys attorney, Steven Adams of Baton Rouge, were unsuccessful Monday. The Advocate left two messages at his office. Brady also pleaded guilty to one count of criminal copyright infringement for reproducing thousands of dollars in software in 2001 while living in Nevada. He faces up to five years in prison on that count. No sentencing date has been scheduled. Story originally published in The Advocate _________________________________ Attend the Black Hat Briefings and Training, Las Vegas July 29 - August 3 2,500+ international security experts from 40 nations, 10 tracks, no vendor pitches. www.blackhat.com
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