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Spanish Hacker Cracked Defense Department
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-01-16
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The bell tolled for an 18-year-old hacker in Spain after he was picked up and charged with cracking into a top-secret computer at the U.S. Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego. As an adult the young man could see serious time in prison or get a serious job with some government agency.
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The charges were levied after authorities said the Malaga, Spain-based hacker cracked into a dry dock computer for nuclear submarine maintenance. This was considered a major breach of security and authorities suggest the group responsible does this for the fun of it.
The investigation started when the U.S. Navy detected an illegal entry into the computer system. They promptly reported the incident to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). The NCIS then notified the Spanish Civil Guard after they traced the hack to Spain. After questioning of four individuals, the trail led to the arrest.
Apparently, the unnamed hacker was part of a much bigger effort designed to breach computer security systems connected to the Internet. The Spanish Civil Guard's statement said the group had hacked more than 100 computer systems causing more than half a million in damages.
A Civil Guard spokesman told Reuters, "They did it for the challenge, there's no implication of terrorism." They went on to say the man would face unspecified charges.
Items like this tend to make government looks somewhat weak in their efforts to protect national interests. In many ways, many of the national security measures being taken now seem moot as teenagers run rampant through Defense Dept. computer systems. Every couple of months, one hears of a new breach. Sometimes it's by foreign governments, sometimes it's by UFO searchers and other times, it's been teenagers who are bored.
These issues continue to show a gaping whole in the U.S. national cybersecurity network that rival on dismantling a branch of the U.S. military. Virtually the entire nation runs on computers and a large number of them are hooked to the Internet. As long as they networks are wide open, as they appear to be, then the real underpinning of national security are unsafe. The economy is wide open, the military is wide open, the companies supplying the military are wide open. All of these are still susceptible to hacks and continue to be. While it's impossible to make them impervious, a better job can be done to protect the national interest.
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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