Gawker: valleywag, gary mckinnon

Pentagon hacker latest to use the Asperger's defense

Jackson West — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Gary McKinnon, the U.K. citizen trying to avoid extradition to the U.S. to stand trial on multiple counts of criminal trespass for using a 56k modem to hack into the Pentagon's network in search of UFO evidence, is trying a new tactic. Having lost his appeal, his attorneys are now pointing to a recent diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome as a reason to indefinitely delay his flight across the pond. While the Asperger's defense is nothing new, it has become particularly popular as a gambit by lawyers to excuse the behavior of geeks gone bad. Though not without much success — it certainly didn't work for convicted murderer Hans Reiser. (Photo by AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

British superhacker will likely be tried in the U.S.

Paul Boutin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Gary McKinnon, the British hacker who broke into an astonishing number of U.S. military systems via a 56k modem, lost his court bid to avoid being extradited to the United States. Here's what that means for him:

According to a fresh eWeek report:

By rejecting the appeal, the human rights court paved the way for McKinnon to come to the United States, where he faces up to 70 years if convicted. He is accused of hacking his way into computers at the Pentagon, NASA and the U.S. Army and Navy in 2001 and 2002, causing a reported $700,000 worth of damage.

Attorney Karen Todner, who is representing McKinnon, said her client would now appeal to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to try to persuade her to reconsider an earlier decision and prosecute her client in the United Kingdom.

"Failing that he will be extradited...probably within the next three weeks," Todner added.

She said her client had recently been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and hoped Smith would take this information into account. McKinnon told Reuters in 2006 he was just a computer nerd who wanted to find out whether aliens really existed and became obsessed with trawling large military networks for proof.

His lawyers have argued that sending him to the United States would breach his human rights because he could be prosecuted on account of his nationality or political opinions.

Not surprisingly, McKinnon has a lot of support among technical people:

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant with Sophos, said a poll of IT professionals conducted in 2006 found that more than half were against extraditing him, mostly because they did not feel he had malicious intent.

“There is a feeling in much of the IT community that McKinnon is being treated as a scapegoat by the U.S. authorities, that because he was arrested shortly after 9/11 that the U.S. agencies felt that they had to send out a strong message that hacking was not going to be tolerated."

(Photo by AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

British hacker gets temporary reprieve

Alaska Miller — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:40:00 EDT

Gary McKinnon — crowned by the Pentagon as the biggest hacker of all time — will have to wait a bit longer before heading to the U.S. to face criminal charges. The European Court of Human Rights will now allow him to stay in Britain until August 28 to review his appeal against extradition. McKinnon has been pleading innocence throughout all this, claiming he was simply curious about what information the U.S. military and NASA had about UFOs. [News.com]

The biggest military hacker of all times did his work over 56k modem

Alaska Miller — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:40:00 EDT

Gary McKinnon, a British computer expert, claims he's just fascinated with UFOs. Using his home computer and a modem — how WarGames! — he infiltrated military networks and accessed thousands of computers trying to find evidence of alien contact. Now caught and having lost an appeal with the British courts, he's awaiting extradition to the United States to stand trial, accused of the "biggest military hack of all time." The full list of his computer-exploiting prowess:

Using his own computer at home in London, McKinnon hacked into 97 computers belonging to and used by the U.S. government between February 2001 and March 2002.

McKinnon is accused of causing the entire U.S. Army's Military District of Washington network of more than 2,000 computers to be shut down for 24 hours.

Using a limited 56-kbps dialup modem and the hacking name "Solo" he found many U.S. security systems used an insecure Microsoft Windows program with no password protection.

He then bought off-the-shelf software and scanned military networks, saying he found expert testimonies from senior figures reporting that technology obtained from extra-terrestrials did exist.

At the time of his indictment, Paul McNulty, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said: "Mr. McKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time."

If found guilty, McKinnon could be jailed for 70 years and fined as much as $1.75 million.