[defaced-commentary] Los Alamos worker arrested on hacking charges

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 06:30:33 -0700 (MST)
From: security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>
To: defaced-commentary () attrition org
Subject: [defaced-commentary] Los Alamos worker arrested on hacking charges



 This article pertains to a defacer known as "MagicFX", who was part of a
 group known as "irc.psychic.com", named after a small IRC server the
 defacers were active on. MagicFX's most notable defacement was that of
 Ebay (www.ebay.com), in which he demonstrated to Adam Penenberg/Forbes
 that he had full control over their main web server and more. A mirror of
 the two defacements and links to the article can be found at:

 http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/1999/03/13/ebay.com/

 Since the defacement was posted, the three articles including Penenberg's
 which contained an interview with MagicFX have since been moved or
 removed from the various sites. Searching Forbes, I can find no reference
 to that specific article.


 ----------

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4438378.html?tag=st.ne.1002.thed.ni

By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
January 10, 2001, 6:15 p.m. PT

SAN FRANCISCO--A current employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory,
the nation's top nuclear weapons research facility, has been arrested on
charges of computer hacking and tampering with a witness while a student,
the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday.

A senior lab official stressed that all of the charges related to activity
before the suspect joined the staff at Los Alamos--which has been hit with
a string of security problems--and that there was no evidence that any of
the nation's sensitive nuclear secrets had been compromised.

The employee, 21-year-old Jerome Heckenkamp, was arrested Tuesday at Los
Alamos on an indictment returned by a San Jose, Calif., grand jury last
December, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney's
Office.

According to the indictment, Heckenkamp used the names "MagicFX" and
"Magic" to commit computer intrusions and intercept electronic
communications between Feb. 26, 1999, and Nov. 29, 1999, apparently while
he was a student at the University of Wisconsin.

The indictment also alleges that Heckenkamp attempted to tamper with a
witness in the case with a view to persuading that person to withhold
testimony.

A senior Los Alamos official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said all
of the charges related to activity that occurred well before Heckenkamp
was hired to work on the lab's network and information systems in June
2000. "We were notified by the bureau after he was hired and we took every
possible step necessary to protect our info security and our nation's
secrets," the official said.

"He had no access, either physically or electronically, to anything of a
sensitive nature at the lab."

Los Alamos' security measures have been under increased scrutiny following
the December 1999 arrest of former lab physicist Wen Ho Lee on charges of
mishandling sensitive nuclear data, and the temporary disappearance of two
computer hard drives containing nuclear secrets.

Initially portrayed as a spy for China, the Taiwanese-born Lee eventually
pleaded guilty to one felony count of downloading nuclear weapons design
secrets to a nonsecure computer. The hard drives, which disappeared in May
last year, were subsequently found behind a copying machine.

The lab official said security officials had been over Los Alamos' systems
"with an exceptionally fine-toothed comb" and found no evidence of any
tampering related to the Heckenkamp case. "There is absolutely no evidence
of anything improper," he said.

Heckenkamp, who has also been charged in a separate indictment returned by
a federal grand jury in San Diego, appeared in court in Los Alamos on
Wednesday and was detained in federal custody pending further hearings.

He is scheduled to return to court Thursday for a hearing to determine
whether he will be moved to either San Jose or San Diego, the U.S.
Attorney's Office said.


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