Feds bust kid hacker

A juvenile hacker who crippled an airport tower for six hours, damaged a town's phone system, and broke into pharmacy records has been charged in a first-ever federal prosecution, the U.S. Attorney's office announced today.

But in a plea bargain, the juvenile will serve no jail time, the government announced.

The incidents occurred in early 1997, but the federal criminal charges were unsealed just today. The government said it was the first federal prosecution ever of a minor for a computer crime.

Three separate hacking charges
According to U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern, the hacker disabled a key telephone company computer servicing the Worcester airport, roughly 45 miles southwest of Boston.

"As a result of a series of commands sent from the hacker's personal computer, vital services to the FAA control tower were disabled for six hours in March of 1997," a release from Stern's office said.

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In the course of his hacking, the defendant also tampered with the phone system in Rutland, Mass., and electronically broke into a pharmacy computer and copied patient records, Stern said.

First charges against juvenile hacker
The charges are believed to be the first ever to have been brought against a juvenile by the federal government for commission of a computer crime. The juvenile was not named.

The plea agreement sentences the juvenile to two years' probation, "during which he may not possess or use a modem or other means of remotely accessing a computer or computer network directly or indirectly," according to Stern

	Kevin Mitnick, the most feared hacker in the land, is approaching his day in court.

In addition, he must pay restitution to the telephone company and complete 250 hours of community service. He has been required to forfeit all of the computer equipment used during his criminal activity.

"Computer and telephone networks are at the heart of vital services provided by the government and private industry, and our critical infrastructure," Stern said. "They are not toys for the entertainment of teen-agers. Hacking a computer or telephone network can create a tremendous risk to the public and we will prosecute juvenile hackers in appropriate cases, such as this one."

Telephone service hacked
The criminal charges allege that the computer hacker temporarily disabled Next Generation Digital Loop Carrier systems operated by NYNEX at the Worcester Airport and in the community of Rutland, Mass.

Loop carrier systems are used by telephone companies to integrate service provided to hundreds of telephone lines for digital transmission over a single, high-capacity fiber-optic cable to a central office.

"Just as disabling a circuit breaker box blacks out an entire house, so disabling a loop carrier system cuts off all communications with the telephone lines it services," said Stern.

On March 10, 1997, the hacker got into the loop carrier using a modem line used by technicians.

"Public health and safety were threatened by the outage, which resulted in the loss of telephone service, until approximately 3:30 p.m., to the Federal Aviation Administration Tower at the Worcester Airport, to the Worcester Airport Fire Department, and to other related concerns such as airport security, the weather service, and various private air freight companies.

"Public health and safety were threatened by the outage." -- U.S. Attorney Donald Stern

"Further, as a result of the outage, both the main radio transmitter, which is connected to the tower by the loop carrier system, and a circuit, which enables aircraft to send an electric signal to activate the runway lights on approach, were not operational for this same period of time."

The second outage disrupted telephone service throughout the Rutland area, causing financial damage as well as threatening public health and safety as a result of the loss of telephone service, according to the government.

The hacker changed the system identification to "Jester," according to the press release.

Pharmacy hacked
In the pharmacy hack, the report alleges that the juvenile computer hacker used his personal computer and modem for an after-hours break-in of a major pharmacy chain.

On four occasions in January, February, and March of 1997, the hacker used his PC to instruct the Worcester pharmacy computer to transmit to all of the prescriptions filled by the pharmacy during the previous week, detailing them by customer name, address, telephone number, and prescription medicine supplied.

"While he could not alter the prescriptions and we found no evidence that he disseminated the information, this constituted a serious invasion of privacy," said Stern.