State's first criminal charges filed in computer hacking cases.

[Paul Howell]

At http://167.240.254.37/AGWebSite/press_release/pr10189.htm

September 14, 2000 

Attorney General Jennifer Granholm today
announced that she has filed felony criminal
charges against two Michigan men each accused
of "hacking" ?- or unlawfully entering ?- a
third-party computer system. The charges are the
first under a Michigan law which makes the
unauthorized alteration, damage or use of a
computer system a felony.

In two separate hacking cases, Granholm alleges
that Brian Salcedo, age 17 of Whitmore Lake, and
Jesse Salens, age 19 of Dearborn, each gained
unauthorized access to a third-party computer
system, and then either stole or destroyed
information on the system. Salcedo and Salens
were each charged with one count of unauthorized
use, alteration or destruction of a computer
system. The Salcedo charge was filed in the 15th
District Court in Ann Arbor; the Salens charge was
filed in the 19th District Court in Dearborn.

Granholm said: "Hacking is the dark side of high
technology's power and progress. For every
person using a computer or the Internet for
research, commerce or communication, there may
be another person using that technology to commit
a crime. The Internet, unfortunately, has become
one more tool to pick the locks of companies
across the country."

In the Salcedo case, the complaint alleges that, in
March 2000, Brian Salcedo gained unauthorized
access to a computer system belonging to a
non-profit Internet service company in Ann Arbor
called "Arbornet." The company offered free or
low-cost Internet service to customers around the
world through a public access system called
"M-Net." According to the complaint, Salcedo
hacked into the M-Net system, placed a program
on the M-Net server that allowed him to use it
securely, then used the program to steal and
change administrators' passwords. The complaint
further alleges that Salcedo used an
administrator's password to open an M-Net user's
e-mail files at the University of Maryland.

On May 31, while Salcedo had access to the
M-Net system, the system crashed and did not
recover. On June 7, 2000, an M-Net employee
received an e-mail message from a user
identified only as 6122@grex.org who claimed to
have hacked into the M-Net system. On June 11,
2000, Salcedo met with M-Net employees and
admitted that he was "6122," that he had hacked
into the system, and that he had stolen a number
of passwords. The M-Net system remained down
into July and became available only after M-Net
replaced the system's equipment.

In the Salens case, the complaint alleges that, on
or about March 2, 2000, Jesse Salens hacked
into the Dearborn Public Schools' computer
system and altered a number of pages on the
school's web site. Access to the web site is
limited to the school's Instructional Computer
Network Manager.

According to the complaint, Salens inserted text
and graphics into the web site, made malicious
comments about school employees and rewrote
the school's "Core Value" page. The complaint
also alleges that a pornographic image was
placed on the site which was programmed to
alternate with a photograph of the school system's
superintendent.

The unauthorized postings were traced to an
Earthlink Internet Service Provider account in
Salens' name by analyzing the digital files which
log activity on the web site. On April 5, 2000,
agents from the Attorney General's High Tech
Crime Unit and the Michigan State Police seized
the hard drive of Salens' computer. Forensic
investigators subsequently found evidence of the
altered images.

Under current Michigan law, the unauthorized
alteration, damage, destruction or use of a
computer system resulting in at least $1,000 in
damage is a felony punishable by 5 years in jail
and/or a fine of $10,000 or three times the
aggregate amount involved, whichever is greater.
An amendment to the law, however, which takes
effect September 19, will remove the $1,000
damage threshold.

Granholm added: "In the future, any hacking,
regardless of the amount of financial damage it
causes, will be a felony. A vandal is a vandal
whether you are a virtual vandal putting graffiti on a
web site or a real world vandal putting graffiti on a
wall. Both are illegal. And using a computer to
break into a company from the comfort of your
living room is just as illegal as using a hammer to
break down that company's front door. Because
the Internet makes the crime easier doesn't mean
that it makes it right. These are the first hacking
charges in this state; you can bet that they won't
be the last."

A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the
defendant is presumed innocent until and unless
proven guilty.