Actor Played Hacker Role Too Well - DA

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.newsbytes.com/news/00/159369.html

By Michael Bartlett, Newsbytes
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.,
13 Dec 2000, 8:59 PM CST

An aspiring actor faces a preliminary hearing Dec. 21 in Los Angeles
County Superior Court on charges of computer fraud and theft.

Chad Horton, 21, of Macon, Ga., is accused of hacking into the system
at Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Breakdown Services and stealing lists
of acting jobs. The lists, known as "breakdowns," consist of synopses
of characters in scripts and are sold to casting directors and talent
representatives, the company said. The weekly breakdowns are not
available to actors.

Horton, along with Valerie R. Fee, 58, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., are
charged with one count each of grand theft and receiving stolen
property. Horton faces an additional charge of computer fraud.

According to Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan
Fairtlough, Horton sold lists he stole from Breakdown Services to
other actors he met in chat rooms on the Internet. The complaint
alleged that this activity took place from Jan. 1, 1999 to March 14 of
this year. Fee is accused of purchasing breakdowns from Horton and
reselling them.

The district attorney's office said the crimes were discovered when
Fee allegedly sold one of the lists to the head of Breakdown Services'
New York office. However, according to Gary Marsh, the president of
the company's Los Angeles office, Horton's hack was detected early on.

"Our security is pretty good here, and we knew right away what had
happened," Marsh said. "We notified the police in January of 1999 and
cooperated with their investigation. They asked us not to do anything
overt."

Fairtlough said that the case is being prosecuted by Los Angeles
County's newly created High-Technology Analysis and Litigation Team,
also known as "HALT." He said HALT is part of the Southern California
High-Tech Task Force that was formed to battle the burgeoning threat
of computer crimes.

Breakdown Services is on the Web at http://www.breakdownservices.com

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