Californian Accused of Hacking Into NASA Computers

[Paul Howell]

At http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000922/wr/crime_califhacker_dc_2.html

Friday September 22 8:19 AM ET
Californian Accused of Hacking Into NASA Computers 

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A man who allegedly hacked into
''hundreds, maybe thousands'' of U.S. government, NASA and
university computers under the nicknames ``Shadow Knight'' and
''Dark Lord'' was arrested on federal charges of breaking into
the wrong computers.

And police did not have far to go to get him: Jason Diekman, 20,
who was already being held in Orange County Jail in an unrelated
state case when federal authorities took him into their custody, is
accused in a federal criminal complaint of unauthorized access to
government computers.

Prosecutors said Thursday that the Mission Viejo resident had
hacked into computer systems at the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration's (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in Pasadena and NASA computers at Stanford University.
Mission Viejo is about 50 miles south of Los Angeles in Orange
County, Calif.

The NASA computer systems at Stanford contained sensitive
software used to control satellites, U.S. Attorney's Office
spokesman Thom Mrozek said, but added that it was not clear
why Diekman wanted access to those systems.

``Computer hacking poses one of the most significant threats to
this nation's technological infrastructure,'' U.S. Attorney
Alejandro Mayorkas said. ``Unauthorized access to government
computers is a crime and we are prepared to do battle with
hackers in cyberspace.''

The charges against Diekman accuse him of using his access to
computers at JPL to intercept electronic communications on the
lab's systems, launch attacks on other computer systems and
communicate with other hackers.

Mrozek said Diekman also allegedly gained access to about 24
computers at Stanford, causing $17,000 in damage, and has
admitted to hacking into ``hundreds, maybe thousands'' of
systems at JPL, Stanford, Cornell University, California State
University at Fullerton and at least two University of California
campuses.

He is also accused of stealing more than 500 credit card numbers
through his hacking activities, which he used to buy $6,000 in
computer equipment, stereo speakers and clothes.

Diekman was being held in Orange County Jail after a judge
sentenced him to 75 days in jail for stealing power boxes from a
local cable company and failing to appear at a court hearing.

He faces a maximum of 26 years in prison and $750,000 in fines if
convicted on the federal charges, although sentencing guidelines
typically result in much lighter penalties.