[ISN] Hoffacker Charged With Hacking System

alerts@private

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4338075.html

The Associated Press
Nov. 15, 2006

NEW YORK - A former Source Media Inc. executive was charged with hacking 
into the company's computer system three years after he was dismissed, 
and tipping off employees whose jobs were in jeopardy, prosecutors said 
Wednesday.

In a press release, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said Stevan 
Hoffacker, the company's one-time director of information technology and 
later vice president of technology, was charged with one count of 
unauthorized access to a protected computer network.

Source Media is the New York publisher of American Banker, the Bond 
Buyer and other financial publications. It is a unit of Bahrain's 
Investcorp.

Hoffacker, 53, faces up to five years in prison on the charge. He was 
arrested Wednesday in Queens, where he lives.

A lawyer for Hoffacker didn't immediately return a phone call seeking 
comment late Wednesday.

Prosecutors have alleged that Hoffacker, who worked for Source Media and 
its predecessor company from 1998 to 2003, hacked into the company's 
e-mail network and sent e-mails to two Source Media employees in August 
and in September of this year, alerting them that they might lose their 
jobs. The messages were sent from a Yahoo account, according to court 
documents.

Hoffacker had access to usernames and passwords of other employees 
during his work in the company's information technology department, 
prosecutors said.

The two employees had been the subject of e-mails among executives 
discussing their employment status and possible termination, the 
government said.

According to court documents, the company was forced to retain the 
services of an outside law firm and had to redirect personnel to address 
the security breach. As a result, the damage to Source Media's business 
was more than $100,000, according to court records.

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