UGN Security
Posted By: Ice Yale hacker faces 95 years in prison says DA - 04/04/03 04:15 PM
Found this story pretty intresting also
Jeez 95 Years ?? Murderers and Rapist, Drug Dealers etc.. Get less time then this
This is crazy.....

Heres the story, also found in the news section

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A teenage Texas hacker using an obsolescent personal computer and a telephone allegedly broke into Yale University's computer system in 2000 from his bedroom, and now faces up to 95 years in prison. Jason Jarrell, now 19, who lives with his mother in a town outside Dallas, appeared in Superior Court here Thursday. He is scheduled to be arraigned April 22 on six counts of computer crime. Jarrell is accused of tapping into computers at the Bass Laboratory Nuclear Magnetic Resonance System, the Child Study Center, the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory, the School of Management, Information Technology Services, and the Engineering Robotics Laboratory. He was 16 at the time. Damage is estimated to be at least $150,000, based on the time the computers were down and the hours of work necessary to clean and rejuvenate the systems.

"This is the first major network intrusion case brought at a state level in Connecticut," said Senior Assistant State's Attorney John Blawie. "He hijacked a Yale account and there's evidence that he boasted on the Internet of having 'owned' Yale," Blawie said. The seesaw contest between hackers and law enforcement is bound to continue, he said. "This case makes it clear that we're treating these offenses as a high priority," Blawie said. The Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force caught up to Jarrell by tracking down his telephone number with the help of his Internet Service Provider.

Jarrell supposedly broke into Yale's computers repeatedly from his home in Coppell, creating his own user accounts and installing hidden software to monitor Yale network traffic and gather passwords, according to the warrant for his arrest. Using an array of hacking programs and techniques, Jarrell apparently elevated himself to computer "root administrator," which gave him cyber authority to further manipulate the machines, Blawie said. Jarrell allegedly installed a private "backdoor" on the Yale computer system � and then closed it behind him to prevent access by other hackers, according to the warrant.

James Ruane, the attorney representing Jarrell, declined to comment other than to note Jarrell's age at the time of the alleged offenses. Yale University Information Security Officer H. Morrow Long said there is no evidence that files were altered or deleted. "We laid a trap and watched him come back," Long said. The hacker's glaring error was to connect to Yale directly from his home, Long said. Experienced hackers typically cover their tracks by creating a string of Internet paths, making the origin of the attack unclear.

"We've certainly changed a lot of things since then," Long said. "Central systems are almost all behind firewalls and we have an intrusion detection system." Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said he does not know if experimental results, research or other valuable materials were damaged in the intrusions. "It's an ongoing battle between hackers and those who protect," said Terrell Ward Bynum, director of the Research Center on Computing and Society at Southern Connecticut State University.

"Hackers keep finding new doorways. E-mail, Web sites, dial-up services, are all means of access," Bynum said. "Obviously you need to be really, really good at computers to do this." Bynum said penetration of Yale's computers would be worrisome because Yale is a major node on the Internet. Yale is among the centers that comprise the Net's backbone, meaning a large volume of traffic courses through it, he said. Lessons learned in this case will help agencies parry the next hack, Bynum said.

Hmmmm.... they never really mentioned what the 'obsolete' computer was that he used to 'own' Yale. C64 ? Atari ? Timex Sinclair ? Amiga ? IBM XT ? Vic 20 ? C128 ?... And he used a direct dial up connection to access the Yale servers ? I somehow doubt that he is going to get 95 years in prison like the DA suggest..

Found the story here
http://www.securitynewsportal.com/cgi-bin/cgi-script/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=JanY%2edb&command=viewone&id=69&op=t
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Agreed that its unlikely. I think news, prosecuters, and especially law enforcement like to throw out large "possible sentences" into the media. So its probably just a scare tactic or a pathetic effort to look intimidating. I bet he gets no jail time, fine and parole. He was 16 for godsakes, not even an adult yet. And I didn't see any mention of maliciousness, so that will ease it up alot too.
whatever he gets, he deserves it. The complete idiocy to hack from home with no measures to hide yourself is pretty darn dumb. The dumbest, 'dumb and dumber' couldn't outdo that. Hacking into such high profile institutions and blundering about so obviously.... Put him in jail for 95 years, I hope they do, maybe idiots around the world will wise up.
Posted By: Ice Re: Yale hacker faces 95 years in prison says DA - 04/05/03 06:59 AM
I agree with both of you but still, 95 years, thats pretty harsh. He probably will get off free.
The thing that amazes me is how much time there trying to give him, FOR [censored] sake, go kill a friend or something and you will be out quicker then someone that did a technology based crime that didn't do much damage. Then place him in prison with a bunch of rapists and murders

to me thats not right at all... theres nothing right about this
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