Times
hacker turns him-self in on federal warrant
Hacker:
22-year-old California man has been charged
with altering the New York Times' computer
database. The alleged hacker has claimed
responsibility to numerous break-ins.
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A nationally known itinerant
computer hacker surrendered in California
Tuesday on a federal arrest warrant accusing
him of breaking into The New York Times'
computers.
Adrian
Lamo, 22, is charged with altering The Times'
databases, including one containing Social
Security numbers, home telephone numbers
and other personal information for celebrities
and government officials who are among the
3,000 contributors to its op-ed page.
An
FBI affidavit says Lamo added his own name,
cell phone number and e-mail address to
The Times' list of op-ed contributors and
its administrative database, listing his
area of expertise as ''computer hacking,
national security, communications intelligence.''
Lamo
turned himself in to marshals at the federal
courthouse in Sacramento, said FBI spokeswoman
Karen Twomey Ernst. His surrender was filmed
by an independent camera crew that had been
following him for days for a documentary.
He
was released to his parents' custody on
a $250,000 bond partly secured by their
home near Sacramento, and ordered to report
to the FBI's New York office Thursday.
A
federal magistrate ordered him to have no
contact with a computer in the meantime.
A
federal defender who represented him during
the brief appearance had no comment.
The
complaint unsealed in Sacramento charges
that Lamo ''accessed a protected computer
without authorization'' between February
and April 2002, causing The New York Times
Co. damages exceeding $25,000 by altering
its databases.
The
FBI affidavit says that's what it cost The
Times to confirm, assess and repair the
damage from Lamo's hacking.
The
complaint also says Lamo obtained more than
$300,000 worth of services from the LexisNexis
electronic information service during the
same period by creating and then using five
user identification names and passwords
to access The Times' LexisNexis account.
The
accompanying Aug. 1 affidavit from FBI agent
Christine Howard quotes a LexisNexis official
as saying the user names created by Lamo
were used more than 3,000 times over three
months, accounting for 18 percent of all
Times inquiries during that period.
Lamo
kept using LexisNexis to, among other things,
search for mentions of his own name and
exploits, according to the affidavit.
Howard's
affidavit notes Lamo also has publicly claimed
responsibility for hacking into computers
at large corporations during the past several
years, including Microsoft, Yahoo!, Worldcom,
SBC Ameritech, Cingular and ExciteAtHome.
The
New York investigation became public a year
ago, when a federal prosecutor tried unsuccessfully
to subpoena an MSNBC reporter's notes, e-mails
and other information about conversations
with Lamo.
Lamo
frequently uses public computers at copy
stores for his hacking activities as he
travels the nation.
He
has offered to work for free with his hacking
victims after each break-in to improve the
security of their networks.
FBI
agents visited Lamo's parents' home last
week. He wasn't there, but began arranging
to surrender shortly thereafter.
Lamo
had told reporters he planned to surrender
Friday, but then had second thoughts about
spending the weekend in custody.
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