Alleged hacker 'Mafiaboy' makes bail in Canada

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500291829-500462842-503083188-0,00.html

MONTREAL (December 19, 2000 10:09 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com)
- A 16-year-old computer whiz accused of hacking into CNN, Yahoo! and
Amazon.com's Web sites was released on bail Tuesday after promising
the judge he would keep an undisclosed full-time job.

The suspect, who cannot be named under Canadian law but is known by
his computer nickname Mafiaboy, had been out on bail until police
arrested him again on Dec. 1 for violating conditions set by the
court.

He has pleaded innocent to more than 60 counts of computer hacking and
mischief for allegedly crippling the sites by bombarding them with
thousands of simultaneous messages, preventing legitimate users from
getting through. Prosecutors also allege he broke into several
computers, mostly at U.S. universities, and used them to launch the
attacks.

If convicted, he could spend up to two years in a juvenile detention
center. An adult convicted of the same charges would face up to 10
years in prison.

After his initial arrest in April, the youth was allowed to live at
home under strict conditions that included staying away from
computers, attending school and keeping out of trouble.

He was taken back into custody for being suspended from school,
cutting classes, arguing with teachers and other disciplinary
problems.

On Tuesday, the youth said he would drop out of school and work
full-time. He was released with his full-time employment as a bail
condition.

The trail was scheduled to begin March 5, and lawyers expect it to
last for weeks or even months because of the technical nature of the
evidence.

The hacking case in February raised concern worldwide about the
vulnerability of major Web sites as dependence on the Internet for
communication and commerce increases.

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