Accused Los Alamos hacker freed, barred from using computers

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/232587p-2233872c.html

SAN JOSE, Calif. (January 29, 2002 9:44 p.m. EST) - A former Los
Alamos National Laboratory computer specialist accused of hacking was
set free on $50,000 bond Tuesday and ordered to stay away from
computers and several other electronic devices.

Jerome Heckenkamp, 22, was charged last year in federal courts in San
Jose and San Diego with breaking into the networks of eBay, Exodus
Communications, Qualcomm, Juniper Networks, ETrade, Lycos and Cygnus
Support Solutions, causing more than $1 million in damage.

The acts allegedly occurred when Heckenkamp was a graduate student at
the University of Wisconsin, before he worked at Los Alamos.

He had been free on $50,000 bond - and allowed to use a computer, but
not the Internet - until Jan. 18, when he asked to be put in jail so
the friend who posted the money for him could get it back. Heckenkamp
said he wanted to fire his lawyer and represent himself.

Heckenkamp later decided to keep his attorney and asked to be freed
again. But prosecutor Ross Nadel said there was evidence Heckenkamp
had violated his original bond agreement by getting on the Internet.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Trumbull said she was puzzled by
Heckenkamp's strange behavior and worried she could not trust him to
stay off the Internet. So she freed him on $50,000 bond posted by his
father, placed Heckenkamp on electronic monitoring and barred him from
using computers, fax machines, cell phones and video games.

A judge in San Diego also must approve the terms.

Heckenkamp's first trial, in San Jose, is set to begin March 19.  
Hacking charges carry up to five years in prison.



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