Asperger Hacker Targets US Military SIte in Saerch of UFO Files?

Originally posted by masonwatcher
Considering the methods by which he hacked the Pentagon and simply typing the password PASSWORD, he must have humiliated a bunch of very senior people and cut short a few careers. He has to pay a price.

The password was PASSWORD. You got to be joking. Where did you read that at? I have to see it. That is the crazy. That is like what a man that installs alarms systems told me. He said that better than 75% of people never change the default code and everyone knows the default code. Sounds like that is what happened here. The default code was never changed for some reason.

Originally posted by ZindoDoone
Druid, how would you feel if someone hacked your computer and released a mirrored image of your hard drive? Would you say 'Oh Well, he/she has Aspergers syndrome so I won't bother with having them stopped from hacking my computer!' All your banking and net passwords and nearly everything else you might have out there in cyberspace for anyone and everyone to see might change your mind! Fact is, hacking a government or any civilian computer system is illegal without a warrant..unless you ARE the government!!!

Zindo

Am I missing something?! How can individuals be brainwashed anough to even MAKE a statement like you just made? Your ridiculous...you just said he should be punished for a law that he broke by a government who can break the same law and retrieve your data...

This man made HUGE efforts for a cause here....i really dont see why someone is even on this site if they do not respect this man....logically he broke the law but it was for the right cause....your going to argue that hes a law breaking criminal for providing you information that you signed up to a internet website to receive...

All you pots and kettles keep calling yourself black....

[edit on 14-7-2009 by Krystian]

Originally posted by druid1
I heard that he found a before and after folder where Nasa had been airbrushing pictures from Space.
I really think that they should just leave him alone.....Whether he is sick or not

You mean never mind that small insignificant fact that he broke the law by hacking into computers, military/government computers of all things?

Ok..

reply to post by ZindoDoone

Druid, how would you feel if someone hacked your computer

This wasn't anyone's personal computer, so how people actually feel about him hacking should have nothing to do with it.

Hacking is a fairly minor crime, if you haven't actually caused any damage. Of course how hard you're going to get busted depends on where you hacked into. NASA is supposed to be a public organization with nothing to hide, I find it interesting how this guy is being hit by a ton of bricks over something so trivial.

Btw the "damage" was caused because the compromised computers were all destroyed because nobody could be arsed to remove the trojan off of them.

I'll also add that anyone who gets hacked deserves everything they get for being stupid enough to run a network capable of being compromised.

Sure it would be nice if there were no hackers, but that's never going to happen. And you're not going to improve network security by jailing hackers.

I see this is a user problem, because out of all my friends and family I'm the guy who gets hassled to remove viruses and fix computers, I'm thinking of getting a tshirt which says "tech support" on the front. It gets really annoying constantly being harrassed to fix peoples problems because they are too lazy and ignorant to pay attention to unimportant things like computer security.

[edit on 14-7-2009 by Lazyninja]

reply to post by Lazyninja


By that opinion the first time you ever pushed a button to operate your computer you knew everything there was to know about computers and didn't need to learn that you could be hacked? That's not the case with most people. Anyone who runs Wonblows finds out nearly every day that there is a way to backdoor your computer after the fact.
Computer hacking is NOT a small crime. The annual costs are $843 per company equating to $2.1 billion nationally and the average downtime is one week. That's an average, not what some individual companies have had to loose because of this problem!

Zindo

Originally posted by Lazyninja
reply to post by ZindoDoone

 

Druid, how would you feel if someone hacked your computer

This wasn't anyone's personal computer, so how people actually feel about him hacking should have nothing to do with it.

Hacking is a fairly minor crime, if you haven't actually caused any damage. Of course how hard you're going to get busted depends on where you hacked into. NASA is supposed to be a public organization with nothing to hide, I find it interesting how this guy is being hit by a ton of bricks over something so trivial.

Btw the "damage" was caused because the compromised computers were all destroyed because nobody could be arsed to remove the trojan off of them.

I'll also add that anyone who gets hacked deserves everything they get for being stupid enough to run a network capable of being compromised.

Sure it would be nice if there were no hackers, but that's never going to happen. And you're not going to improve network security by jailing hackers.

I see this is a user problem, because out of all my friends and family I'm the guy who gets hassled to remove viruses and fix computers, I'm thinking of getting a tshirt which says "tech support" on the front. It gets really annoying constantly being harrassed to fix peoples problems because they are too lazy and ignorant to pay attention to unimportant things like computer security.

[edit on 14-7-2009 by Lazyninja]

It being a minor crime that causes no damage is only your opinion. Remember that.
When the hack is discovered, companies or government departments are forced to spend a butt load of money upgrading security and paying people.
It also matters little if it was a personal or corporate or government agency computer.

One fact still remains the same. Hacking is against the law.

So no, there is no justification, no matter which way you look at it.

I wish that guy did find something worthwhile and managed to release it to the public. At least it would have been worth all the trouble he has landed him self in now.....kind of.

Originally posted by Krystian
your going to argue that hes a law breaking criminal for providing you information that you signed up to a internet website to receive...

The thing about this incident is that he provided basically no information other than claiming to have seen a list of non-terrestrial officers or something to that effect. By his own admission he was using illicit substances during this whole escapade, so I don' t know if you would call anything he 'remembers' credible given that.

as with anything our government does, it always revolves around the reason our government needs to keep information secret. since it has already been shown that other non-related information was kept secret because of embarassment or possible crimes committed, rather than national security concerns, it is imperative that a more objective look at actual classified material be examined by a congressional panel. with that said, i am not naive enough that i would believe a full accounting of non-national security material would be brought to light, but it would be a start. if this does not occur, (which i don't believe it will), we will continue to be kept in the dark even about information totally unrelated to national security.

in other words...it ain't gonna happen

[edit on 15-7-2009 by jimmyx]

I would love to put that guy through a multi-faceted lie detector test!

The US Govt. is beyond criminal in charging him with anything more than simple illegal entry.

We (Humanity) simply are ruled by the worst kind of Military Industrial Complex Mafia - we need to stop putting up with this bullsh*t!

reply to post by ZindoDoone


What I don't understand about all of this is this taken from the BBC article about Gary
"Mr Starmer decided there was "insufficient evidence" to support a UK prosecution under the Computer Misuse Act.

If there is no UK prosecution, Mr McKinnon would inevitably be extradited to stand trial in the US, the judges heard.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Surely if there is insufficient evidence to support a UK prosecution then how can there be sufficient evidence to support a USA prosecution.

£500,000 for 97 PC's an independant auditor needs to look at this. Someone somewhere in the USA has totally lost the plot here. Life in a top security prison. Come on is this what the USA really wants

Also to reiterate why are USA throwing the book at this guy - What has he seen and why is Nasa (Funded by the USA military) Hiding the truth from all of us. If ET exists then this must be the biggest Crime against humanity since the Nazi's were running around.
I find your lack of sympathy as an ATS user absolutely amazing maybe I am in the wrong place

If Robbie Williams is reading this what about getting him a Solicitor from hell you old Stokie. Chips n Gravy anyone.....

reply to post by druid1


I have sympathy for those that break the law and don't understand what they have done. This guy knew exactly what he was doing and also knew that he might find things that no one should be seeing. Secrecy no matter what we might think is necessary at times. Do you tell every one you meet exactly what you're thinking when you meet them? Point is, no one actually knows what it is he saw or knows now, and my sympathy is not with his predicament since he brought this on himself. If someone hacked UK military or government computers from the US do you think Britain would not prosecute them, and extradite them from what ever country they Pinged the computer from?

Zindo

reply to post by ZindoDoone


Ok Gary broke the law but should the law not be just and fair. This poor chap has had this hanging over him for 7 years. Imagine the strain and stress that would but you under. I think that if someone hacked the RAF, Navy or Army computers from the USA then they would face charges in the USA appear before a court and be convicted in the USA. However I doubt very much that our military would leave their computers so vunerable to an attack. I think he did you a big favour and should be compensated by your reckoning lets say £500,000 a free computer, Broadband and a consultancy contract with Nasa.
Our Judges say that there is insufficient evidence. That should be the end of that.
Last time I looked we are not quite a banana republic yet but maybe we are just a puppet for Obama and company. Isn't it about time we stood up and said hell no.....

reply to post by druid1


Gees, what ever! It's not up to us anyhow. It will be adjudicated here and the parties involved will decide what's to be done with him. I guess we should just hold hands and sing Cum ba ya and let anyone that feels like it hack away and ignore the consequences!

Zindo

Apologies for being shallow but he has strange features.

[edit on 15-7-2009 by contactee]

The password was PASSWORD.

There should be layers of security.
Not just one password.

I think this was a set up to discourage UFO, Tesla or free energy
seekers in government data bases.
Keep officials from doing the same.
They knew what he was searching for and let him continue.

Originally posted by druid1
reply to post by ZindoDoone

 

What I don't understand about all of this is this taken from the BBC article about Gary
"Mr Starmer decided there was "insufficient evidence" to support a UK prosecution under the Computer Misuse Act.

If there is no UK prosecution, Mr McKinnon would inevitably be extradited to stand trial in the US, the judges heard.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Surely if there is insufficient evidence to support a UK prosecution then how can there be sufficient evidence to support a USA prosecution.

£500,000 for 97 PC's an independant auditor needs to look at this. Someone somewhere in the USA has totally lost the plot here. Life in a top security prison. Come on is this what the USA really wants

Also to reiterate why are USA throwing the book at this guy - What has he seen and why is Nasa (Funded by the USA military) Hiding the truth from all of us. If ET exists then this must be the biggest Crime against humanity since the Nazi's were running around.

I find your lack of sympathy as an ATS user absolutely amazing maybe I am in the wrong place

If Robbie Williams is reading this what about getting him a Solicitor from hell you old Stokie. Chips n Gravy anyone.....

I don't understand why you have sympathy for him.
He broke the law. He committed a crime. It does not matter how big or small that crime was. He is a criminal. And therefore he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

We are not talking about some kid just mucking around trying to impress his friends. It was a man who purposely 'broke into' government computers, with the intent of stealing data and information.

What the hell don't some of you people understand about that?? It is extremely simple.

He broke the law. He got caught. He will now be punished.

Just because he was supposedly looking for information on UFO's and aliens, and that is a subject you people are interested in and actually believe, does not make what he did right.

You need to look at this from a neutral point of view.


They are not making an example of him for what you think he saw. He did not see anything. They are not stupid to put highly sensitive materials online on networks the public can reach. They are going to make an example out of him to deter others. Again, it's simple.

Stop looking for smoke were there is no fire.

Originally posted by Helig By his own admission he was using illicit substances during this whole escapade, so I don' t know if you would call anything he 'remembers' credible given that.

Aside from anything else in this debate, the fact that he had been smoking pot is completely incidental. It obviously didn't encumber his ability to take a stroll through government computers. Some folks just don't get out much...

As to the legality, some actions pick up their own momentum, and how many movies plots are based on such a premise as Gary's? Several I can think of. The US is trying to make an example of him when I'm sure a good scare would have set him straight. Plus...they were made aware of the insecurity of the system. Bonus.

Why not chase down Halliburton instead?

Originally posted by fixer1967


The password was PASSWORD. You got to be joking. Where did you read that at? I have to see it. That is the crazy. That is like what a man that installs alarms systems told me. He said that better than 75% of people never change the default code and everyone knows the default code. Sounds like that is what happened here. The default code was never changed for some reason.

Here is a link to an interview with McKinnon that includes the password issue;

www.netmag.co.uk...

He says: “I reckoned maybe they might even thank me because I could say ‘look at all these blank passwords, you were lucky it was me, not al-Qaeda’.”

Here is the kicker from the interview;

Getting access wasn’t difficult as many local administrator passwords were shockingly left blank. And he wasn’t even the only one. “I did a network status command on every machine I was on,” he explains, “and you saw a whole list of connections from other countries. I looked up the IPs, there are no military bases in those countries, so it was definitely unauthorised access.” Scanning the networks was mostly very boring. But then he found that what the photographic scientist had said was true: “There were folders called ‘Processed’ and ‘Unprocessed’. Bearing in mind I was on 56k dialup, these pictures were 200 or 300 megabytes in a NASA proprietary format – they’re not JPEGs or GIFs. But I managed to see three quarters of one and it looked like no manufacturing means I’ve ever seen in my life. It looked like an elongated satellite with domes above, below and to the left and to the right. No rivets, no seams, none of the usual signs of man-made machinery. But that’s when the guy at the machines at NASA saw the mouse move.

Why do they want McKinnon? He claims to have found extraterrestrial technology. McKinnon also says that because of poor security, he found hundreds of hackers crawling all over the Nasa network with world wide ip addresses.



[edit on 033131p://pm3141 by masonwatcher]