PAPER: FBI PUTS CLAMPS ON HACKERS WHO THREATENED 'SERIOUS CHAOS'

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash32.htm

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU JAN 11, 2001 21:05:42 ET XXXXX

PAPER: FBI PUTS CLAMPS ON HACKERS WHO THREATENED 'SERIOUS CHAOS'

The LOS ANGELES TIMES is reporting in Friday runs that the FBI is
investigating "an international conspiracy of young computer
enthusiasts who had discussed causing 'serious chaos' on the Internet
last New Year's Eve."

TIMES scribe Josh Meyer reports that four Israelis have been arrested,
in coordination with the Israeli national police, and computers and
"related equipment" has been seized in several states.

The FBI has also confiscated reams of computer data and other
evidence.

One 16-year-old caught in the ring boatsed on his website that he
would 'would "take down the Internet". That threat was met by a force
of more than a dozen federal agents who came with a search warrant to
his door the morning of December 22 and left with boxes of floppy
disks and CD ROMS.

Writes Meyer:

"The teen-agers with aliases such as Doork, Deadkode and Sorcerer --
from California, Michigan, Washington state and Israel -- are
suspected of trying to inject a malicious computer code into the
so-called Web servers that form the communications backbone of the
Internet, FBI documents said."

A spokesman for the FBI's Los Angeles field office, Special Agent
Matthew McLaughlin, justified the heavy reaction:

"Search warrants are obtained based on evidence. And if that evidence
indicates that a serious crime may be on the verge of happening, the
FBI is compelled to investigate that aggressively. At this point we
are analyzing this rather complex body of evidence we've gathered and
are working closely with the U.S. Attorney's Office to determine if
any suspects should be charged in this matter, and if so, with what."

Developing...

-----------------------------------------------------------
Filed By Matt Drudge
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates

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