British hacker Gary McKinnon in final appeal to Home Secretary over extradition

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4628575.ece

By David Brown
The Times
August 29, 2008

A UFO enthusiast who hacked into top-secret US military computers 
appealed to the Home Secretary yesterday to stop his extradition after 
losing a legal appeal.

Gary McKinnon is due to be extradited to the United States within two 
weeks and could face a sentence of up to 80 years in a maximum-security 
prison if found guilty. He admits to having accessed 97 US Navy, Army, 
Nasa and Pentagon computers in what has been described as "the biggest 
computer hack of all time".

Mr McKinnon, 42, an unemployed systems analyst, has said that he was 
looking for computer files containing details about UFOs and aliens. The 
US Government says that he stole passwords, deleted files and left 
threatening messages.

Mr McKinnon, of Palmers Green, North London, admitted carrying out the 
hacks using a computer in the bedroom of a house owned by his 
girlfriend's aunt. He says that he was motivated by curiosity and gained 
entry only because of lax security.

[...]


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