CMP.WERNER@UTEXAS-20.ARPA (Werner Uhrig) (03/31/85)
[ Bringing this to the attention of the BBS-community might help discourage
such incidences. I think we owe it to ourselves to make some efforts to
reduce the "bad press" for "hacking" and to keep some bright kids out of
trouble. I have no other information about the case, and I am not really
interested in studying the merits of it, and, therefore, discourage mail and
follow-up postings. ---Werner ]
HACKERS' WARE GIVEN TO VICTIMS
New Bedford, Mass (AP) - Two teenage computer hackers, accused of invading a
computer and damaging files at a university, have been ordered to give their
$5,000 worth of electronic hardware to a program for the disabled at the college.
Judge John Sheehan in Bristol Superior Court this week also ordered Brian Perry
and James Rendek, both 17, to perform 200 hours of community service.
The youths did not plead guilty, but admitted that they were involved in the
incidents last fall in which Southeastern Massachusetts University staff and
students were termporarily locked out of their own computer system. Damage to
files was estimated at $16,000.
A monthlong investigation after a tip from an informant led police to a
building behind Perry's home, said Assistant District Attorney Stephen
Bancroft.
The police found Rendek at a terminal hooked to their personal computers while
Perry was a few feet away. Police discovered papers and floppy discs
containing references to the earlier problems at the university.
They took all the equipment back to the district attorney, where more stored
information was discovered linking the two to the data invasion.
Officials of the 3,300-student university said they lost 3,000 hours of
computer use while the students toyed with the system.
Issuing no finding on guilt or innocence, the judge continued the cases for
five years and said the records will be sealed if the two stay out of trouble.
Bancroft said outside court that he believes the youths' activities were more
than youthful mischief. He said they systematically wiped out blocks of
administrative, faculty, and student files and were moving up on access
control.
"There's a certain mental stimulation in trying to break into a system and a
certain satisfaction in succeeding," he said.
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