UK teen escapes jail in nuclear lab hack case

[William Knowles <wk () c4i org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/35280.html

By John Leyden
Posted: 02/02/2004 

A UK teenager who admits breaking into the network of Fermilab, a US
high-energy physics research lab has escaped imprisonment.

Joseph McElroy, 18, from Woodford Green in East London, was today
sentenced to 200 hours community service at a hearing at Southwark
Crown Court this afternoon.

Passing sentence, Judge Goymer told McElroy: "You have only just
escaped prison." People found guilty of similar offences in the future
would not be so fortunate, he said.

Fermilab had pressed for £21,215 compensation from McElroy, but he
escaped a fine, on the grounds that he had no means to pay.

McElroy pleaded guilty to hacking into 17 computers at the Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory in June 2002 at a hearing at Bow
Street Magistrates' Court last October. His actions contravened the
UK's Computer Misuse Act.

McElroy's escapades was described by the prosecution as the low-end of
hacking. And the Crown accepted that the youth had no malicious
intent. But his actions had serious consequences, even though his
objective was only to use the lab's network to download films and
music from the Net. The lab's computer systems had to be shut down for
three days once the intrusion - which triggered a full-scale alert -
was discovered. Fermi Lab is run by the US Department of Energy.

It was quickly established that classified systems were not accessed,
but the authorities pressed ahead with a prosecution.

US investigators tracked the intrusion to the UK before passing the
case over to Scotland Yard's Computer Crime Unit; it in turn tracked
McElroy to his parent's home in east London.



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