Houston suspect 'ran hacker gang'

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/dorset/3188520.stm

13 October, 2003

A teenager accused of bringing computers at America's biggest port to 
a standstill was part of a gang of hackers, a court has heard. 
Aaron Caffrey, 19, is alleged to have set up the group called Allied 
Haxor Elite. 

Mr Caffrey, who is accused of crashing systems at the port of Houston 
in Texas, admitted being part of the group but denied he had ever 
illegally hacked in to a computer. 

The teenager, from Shaftesbury in Dorset, told Southwark Crown Court 
that hackers operated legally, but that people who entered computer 
systems illegally were known as "crackers". 

Prosecutor Paul Addison asked Mr Caffrey, who suffers from a form of 
autism called Asperger's Syndrome, if he had seen the film Hackers. 

Elite is the name of the main character in the film, in which a group 
of computer whizkids target the FBI, the court heard. 

The teenager said he had seen the film a couple of times, but 
dismissed it as "eye candy" and denied there was any link to his 
group. 

He said: "A hacker is someone who is good with computers and is 
usually a programmer. 

"I have hacked into computers legally for friends to test their server 
security because they asked me to but never illegally." 

Scheduling systems at Houston - the eighth largest port in the world - 
went down after they were bombarded with thousands of electronic 
messages in September 2001. 

The attack put ships at risk by blocking crucial data for navigating 
in and out of the harbour. 

Jurors have heard that investigators traced the source of the attack 
to a computer at Mr Caffrey's home. 

The trial continues. 



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.