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World's Biggest Hacker Held

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the is-that-girth-mass-or-height dept.

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."

8 of 631 comments (clear)

  1. Obligitory Slashdot Discussion by DeadSea · · Score: 5, Funny

    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)

    1. Get paranoid about UFOs
    2. Hack into the US government
    3. Get caught
    4. ????
    5. Profit!
    1. Re:Obligitory Slashdot Discussion by Thuktun · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually the article says 570000 pounds

      Wow, that guy IS big.

  2. This just in by yotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    The police have apologized to his mother for kicking in her door, but it was the only way they could reach the basement.

    --
    Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
  3. Whoah by LegendOfLink · · Score: 5, Funny

    OMG, they finally caught JeffK!?

    --
    IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
  4. Re:Smart? Yes. A Nut? Perhaps. How about both? by Omnieiunium · · Score: 5, Funny

    He wasn't onto anything. He found nothing. Nothing at all. He did not hack into our databases or steal information. Never happened. Never.

  5. Re:Don't they mean cracker? by Morgon · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.]
  6. It's a good thing he didn't download Eminem songs! by CyricZ · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
  7. Re:Smart? Yes. A Nut? Perhaps. How about both? by prisonercx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't be too sad for him, he got his wish. He's about to be far more involved with anal probing.