Gary McKinnon, the British hacker who broke into military computers looking for evidence of UFOs in the “biggest military hack of all time,” did so using his home computer and a 56k modem. I think we just lost our rights to complain about not having Japan-fast broadband.
Using his own computer at home in London, McKinnon hacked into 97 computers belonging to and used by the U.S. government between February 2001 and March 2002.
McKinnon is accused of causing the entire U.S. Army’s Military District of Washington network of more than 2,000 computers to be shut down for 24 hours.
Using a limited 56-kbps dialup modem and the hacking name “Solo” he found many U.S. security systems used an insecure Microsoft Windows program with no password protection.
He then bought off-the-shelf software and scanned military networks, saying he found expert testimonies from senior figures reporting that technology obtained from extra-terrestrials did exist.
At the time of his indictment, Paul McNulty, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said: “Mr. McKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time.”
He’s currently awaiting extradition to the United States where, if convicted, he’ll face up to 70 years in jail and up to US$1.75 million in fines. Let us know about that alien technology first, Gary! [Valleywag]
Sog
August 4, 2008 at 6:14 PM
I read a full article about this hack and it is B.S. He states that he was using software similar to Carbon Copy to shadow sessions on the remote systems. Just before he gets found out he spots a picture of a UFO that was 250MB. He said it would take for ever to download he could not have done it. B.S. I downloaded a 500MB patch over a 56K modem. Took me 3 weeks but I got it. Additionally, He could have just pressed print screen to capture the image locally. Seriously, he had been hacking the site for over 2 years. Surely this 1337 haxor would have been able to press print screen. This is B.S.
Report Permalinksog #2
August 5, 2008 at 2:55 PM
Sog #1 you are just jealous dude stfu and quit saying shit isnt true.. Maybe he did not wanna leave a connection open for 2 weeks just to get a damn files. So yeah um… And if the image was 250 MB to view it would take just as long to download.. IDIOT
Report PermalinkAbyss
August 6, 2008 at 4:28 AM
^ 3 weeks *is* forever when you can get caught any second. To PS the image, he actually needs to download most of that 250MB.
The previos comment is B.S.
I won’t take 56k modems lightly anymore LOL.
Report PermalinkChuck
December 6, 2008 at 9:05 AM
Couldn’t he have offloaded it to an intermediary? Surely someone able to exploit something like that would be able to find an open, neutral-party ftp server on a fat pipe to send it to. (well, he did get caught… Not the most clever hacker)
Just goes to show this guy is most likely full of BS. All he did was snoop around US computer systems… He didn’t actually find anything.
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