Self-confessed hacker
Gary McKinnon lost his six-year battle to avoid standing trial
in the US for hacking into military databases when the Law Lords
rejected his appeal against extradition to the US.
US prosecutors
allege that McKinnon gained unauthorised entry to 97 computers
belonging to the US army, navy, air force and Nasa between February
2001 and March 2002, and scanned another 73,000 computer systems
hoping to enter them as well. They further allege he caused
£350,000 worth of damage.
McKinnon admitted in a police interview that he hacked into
federal computer systems, but denied causing damage on the scale
claimed.
Five law lords, in the UK's highest court, unanimously decided
that a plea bargain offered to McKinnon by US officials was not
coercive and an abuse of the extradition process. McKinnon, 42, an
unemployed systems administrator, now faces extradition to the US
and charges that carry a penalty of up to 60 years.
Speaking to Computer Weekly exclusively soon after the
decision, Mckinnon said he was dissapointed with his country and
hoped that the European Court of Human Rights would have a
different view.
McKinnon's solicitors, Kaim Todner, said in a statement that it
believed the British government declined to prosecute McKinnon,
freeing the way for the US government to make an example of him.
"The consequences he faces if extradited are both disproporationate
and intolerable," the firm said.
In a case decided recently, a
New Zealand court fined a teenage hacker £5000 for using a 1.3
million-PC botnet to skim millions from back accounts.
So far the British taxpayer has paid all costs related to the
McKinnon case, including those of the US government. Costs were
estimated at close to £900,000.
Kaim Todner is now trying to
delay McKinnon's extradition as it plans to take the case to
the European Court of Human Rights. It hopes the Strasbourg court
will hear the appeal on the grounds that the US abused the
extradition process and threatened McKinnon, and that the US might
try him in a military rather than civilian court.
McKinnon started hacking in 1999. He told Computer Weekly he was
looking for evidence of extraterrestrial beings and alien energy
technology, which he believed the US government was hiding. Had he
found it, he "was going to blow it to the world's press", he said.
US official were reported describing McKinnon as the biggest and
most dangerous military hacker of all time.
It was child's play to get into US military systems, McKinnon
said. Many were using blank or default passwords to access their
servers' Netbios operating system. This allowed the former systems
administrator to gain administrator privileges easily. Once in he
could search for files, see who else was on the network, and even
reset passwords and user privileges.
He admitted writing Perl scripts to harvest passwords, and to
using password crackers to get into more protected systems. Once he
was inside a network, especially a military network, McKinnon found
that other computer systems considered him a trusted user. This was
how he was able to get into the Pentagon's network. "It was really
by accident," he said.
McKinnon said he was detected after he he got lazy, leaving
messages on federal systems. Police from the former National
Hi-Tech Crime Unit arrested him in November 2002, in the wake of
the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon. He has never been charged with hacking offences in the
UK.
Time Line
1999 - Gary McKinnon starts searching for evidence that
the US government is hiding knowledge of extra-terrestrial beings
and technology.
February 2001 to March 2002 - US officials discover and
track McKinnon's hacking activities.
11 September 2001 - Terrorists crash aeroplanes into
the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
November 2002 - US officials indict McKinnon National
High Tech Crime Unit police arrest McKinnon.
8 June 2005 - McKinnon bailed by Bow Street
magistrates' court.
27 July 2005 - Extradition hearing scheduled.
14 February 2006 - Bow Street magistrate's court starts
McKinnon's extradition hearing.
10 May 2006 - Judge agrees to extradite McKinnon.
4 July 2006 - Home Secretary John Reid agrees to
extradite McKinnon.
3 April 2007 - McKinnon loses High Court appeal against
extradition decision.
31 July 2007 - Law Lords agree to hear whether the US
was coercive in seeking a plea bargain deal that required McKinnon
to give up his right to an extradition hearing.
17 June 2008 - Law Lords hear argument.
30 July 2008 - Law Lords decide against McKinnon.