Slashdot Mirror
World's Biggest Hacker Held
Hieronymus Howard writes "The London Evening Standard is reporting that the "worlds biggest computer hacker" has been arrested in London.
Gary McKinnon, 39, was seized by the Met's extradition unit at his Wood Green home.
The unemployed former computer engineer is accused of causing the U.S. government $1 billion of damage by breaking into its most secure computers at the Pentagon and NASA. He is likely to be extradited to America to face eight counts of computer crime in 14 states and could be jailed for 70 years. Apparently he broke into U.S. military computers to hunt for evidence of a UFO cover-up."
I don't believe that this guy is the world's biggest hacker. Have you seen Cowboy Neal??? Now that's big!
This guy was looking for UFOs. In Soviet Russia, UFOs look for you!
We all know that if he was an uber-hacker he would have created a Beowulf cluster of all the computers he hacked.
One billion in damages? That number has to be inflated. (Actually the article says 570000 pounds which is only about 1 Million US dollars according to my currency calculator)
If you do $1 Billion worth of damage just to look for UFO conspiracy information, you deserve to be locked up.
Although this could help his insanity plea.
The police have apologized to his mother for kicking in her door, but it was the only way they could reach the basement.
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OMG, they finally caught JeffK!?
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
He wasn't onto anything. He found nothing. Nothing at all. He did not hack into our databases or steal information. Never happened. Never.
goes by the name of 'Brasky'. i'd say he's about 8'5", 750 pounds.
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Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
I also thought it was a strange use of the word "big"
A really fat nerd was the mental picture that came to mind first.
Not bigger than Kim Schmitz, surely.
The Slashdot Paradox: "100% Overrated"
Here is the photo that Reuters released for this news story. It shows the worlds biggest hacker successfully getting into the Pentagon's secret UFO research labs.
He looks kinda feminine to me...
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Why's it always gotta be about race?!
[DISCLAIMER: This post is a work of satire and should not be misconstrued as a holy text upon which to base a religion.]
Duh . . .
He compromised over 3 Libraries of Congress worth of information, which costs the government such a large amount of money that, if stacked in $20 bills, it would be the size of four Volkswagen beetles. And if you don't know that it takes 1/4 billion in twenties to equeal a Volkswagen bug, then turn in your nerd card at the door.
Sweet informative mod.
Yes, a saltine of massive proportions.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
If he was really smart he would have broken into the alien computer system via the link in...ah, forgot I ever said that.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Hey! I'm one of those overpaid, shoddy techs, you insensitive clod!
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
No, it won't be covered up. He'll go to Gitmo and be interrorgated. They'll probably flush his Perl Cookbook down a toilet, maybe desecrate a few of his Star Wars comic books. In about 10-15 years, the ACLU will finally get him a trial. Why do you hate Freedom?
The unemployed former computer engineer is accused of causing the US government $1billion of damage by breaking into its most secure computers at the Pentagon and Nasa.
In unrelated news, the Bush administration has awarded a $1 billion no-bid contract to Halliburton to upgrade security for its most secure computers at the Pentagon and Nasa.
Then again, perhaps he was on to something?
Yeah, and insanity plea. Doen't mean he shouldn't do serious time, just that he should do it where they have nice soft walls, milk and cookies.
Ummmm, the round kind, with little bits of chocolate in them. The other kind are part of the alien plot to enslave us, but don't tell anyone or the MIBs will come for you.
Arrrrrrrrgh!
KFG
They are. The most sensitive computers at the Pentagon are in Faraday cages with heavily filtered power and armed guards Absolutely no Internet connections.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
If you call any of your doors the "hole" you might want to get your contractor to come and fix it anyway.
Happy Noodle Boy says "F###ing doughnut! Mock me? You fried cyclops!!"
Free on bail + facing 70 year sentence = run awaaaaaay! run awaaaaaay!
No, I'm New Here
It's a good thing he didn't download Eminem songs as well. Then he would have been in deep shit.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Don't be too sad for him, he got his wish. He's about to be far more involved with anal probing.
or alien technology?
One million dollars?
What's that.. about 20 quid these days?
5. Hand over invoice for 1 billion $ to Uncle Sam
That must be it. Here's a picture of him.
But why is the rum gone?
No, he got caught because he didn't have his tinfoil hat properly secured, so the CIA was able to track him with black helicopters in silent mode using NASA supercomputers developed to change weather patterns.
Sure, that's true! Last year I was standing next to a house, smoking some weed, when I lost my balance, tripped, and fell through a window! I thought I might as well crash there, so I took a nap in the owner's bed.
. . . Halliburton has won a no-bid contract from the Bush administration to fix the "$1 billion" of damages.
You've never worked for the government, have you ? It shows.
Believe, my lemming friend, and try to use those critical thinking skills every once in a while. The feds can hardly even define "really important", and certainly have a hard time keeping track of their own doings. Breaking into federal networks can't be too difficult, it's done all the time. This guy wasn't that good- he's been caught.
> Typical system administration passwords are "password"
Dude, I don't think you're supposed to blab that.
Anyway, do I need to type the quotes?
Swamp gas. It was all swamp gas, ladies and gentlemen.
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The next time your IT department asks how to save money, suggest that the government was saving billions by not securing their networks, and now consider it a loss of money when prosecuting a hacker.
I thought the world's biggest oxymoron was "Microsoft Works"