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News Burst: UK hackers have easy life - exclusive
The Welsh ex-hacker, who cracked the Pentagon's computers from his Cardiff bedroom, claims the media can make the difference between a prison sentence and a slap on the wrists for UK hackers.
Mathew Bevan, who was acquitted of endangering the national security of the United States by the High Court in November 1997, told ZDNet: "The American media has quite an anti-hacker view. Over here they have a much more positive attitude. They believe in the 'cool hacker', the anarchist kind of thing. In my case the press was saying, 'Cardiff boy done good' and that sort of thing. It makes are real difference to the number of successful prosecutions there are over here."
This follows claims by American hackers that the media can actually provoke hacking, and comes just days before this year's biggest computer security spectacle Def Con 7.0 in Las Vegas.
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