[iwar] Historical posting


From: Fred Cohen
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Mon, Jan 1, 1999


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Date: Mon, Jan 1, 1999
From: Fred Cohen 
Reply-To: iwar@egroups.com
Subject: [iwar] Historical posting

          

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/054/region/Hacker_faces_charges_in_NASA_a:.shtml

Hacker faces charges in NASA and Interior cases
By Martin Finucane, Associated Press, 2/23/2000 17:30 BOSTON (AP) Federal authorities charged a college student Wednesday with  breaking into government and military computers, linking him to attacks  retaliating for FBI raids last year against fellow hackers.

''We must fight back,'' said one of the messages left at a vandalized Web  site. ''When one of us goes down, we must annihilate the persons  responsible. The FBI has declared war and so have we.''

The U.S. attorney's office accused Ikenna Iffih, 28, of Boston, of breaking  into computers run by NASA, the Defense Department and the Interior  Department in Washington. The Northeastern University student was charged  Wednesday in a three-count criminal information, or statement of charges.

The Interior Department Web site one of those Iffih is charged with  vandalizing was hit in May by a hacker known on the Internet as  ''DigiAlmty,'' who wrote that ''It's our turn to hit them where it hurts...  We'll keep hitting them 'till they get down on their knees and beg.''

In a search of Iffih's home in Boston last fall, authorities said, they  found a one-page computer printout, containing the user name ''DigiAlmty.''  But prosecutors couldn't immediately be reached to confirm Iffih and  ''DigiAlmty'' were one and the same.

The Interior Department attack was one of several against high-profile  government and military Web sites throughout the spring and early summer  retaliating over FBI raids nationwide of several prominent hackers,  including one who ultimately pleaded guilty to breaking into the White  House computers.

''All in all, the defendant used his home computer to leave a trail of  cybercrime from coast to coast,'' U.S. Attorney Donald Stern said in a  statement.

The FBI raids were ''pretty public, and it raised a lot of hackles,'' said  B.K. DeLong, a staff member at Attrition.Org, a Web site devoted to  computer security that maintains an archive of vandalized Web pages  including those of DigiAlmty's. ''It caused many people to publish banners  and deface Web sites in the name of stopping the raids.''

Iffih's attorney, Charles McGinty, didn't immediately return a message  seeking comment. If convicted, Iffih faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in  prison and a fine of $250,000.

Iffih was charged with gaining access in April 1999 to a Defense Logistics  Agency computer located in Columbus, Ohio, then accessing the computer used  by Zebra Marketing Online Services, an Internet service provider located on  Bainbridge Island, Wash.

Then in May 1999, Iffih allegedly accessed a NASA computer located at the  Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Using the NASA computer as a  platform, he gained unauthorized access to other computer systems,  including the Department of Interior Web server.

''The defendant gained illegal access ... either causing substantial  business loss, defacing a Web page with hacker graphics, copying personal  information or, in the case of a NASA computer, effectively seizing  control,'' Stern said.

Iffih also allegedly obtained unauthorized access to various computers  owned and operated by Northeastern University, unlawfully copying private  information concerning students, faculty administrators and alumni.

Prosecutors said there was no disruption to the nation's defenses and no  meddling with satellite control and no improper use of private information,  but that ZMOS, the Internet provider, suffered a ''significant loss of  business.''

Iffih is a student at Northeastern's College of Computer Science.

Northeastern spokeswoman Janet Hookailo said, ''We have been cooperating  with authorities since last fall. We'll continue to do so.''

Hookailo said university officials also planned to meet with Iffih as soon  as possible to discuss the allegations.

FC