US military computer hacker fights extradition

An unemployed British computer worker accused of the largest ever hacking attack on the American military is the victim of a politically-motivated attempt to extradite him across the Atlantic, his lawyers claimed yesterday.

Gary McKinnon, 39, appeared yesterday before Bow Street Magistrates' Court at the start of extradition proceedings over claims that he illegally accessed 53 computers from the Pentagon to a US navy munitions dump while sat in his north London home.

The former network administrator with an interest in UFOs is accused of causing USUS$700,000 of damage to machines operated by the US army and navy, the Pentagon and Nasa over 12 months from March 2001.

The hacking operation caused acute embarrassment to the American authorities by forcing the computer system of the US army in the Washington DC district and a strategic naval base in New Jersey to be shut down in the immediate aftermath of the 11 September attacks.

Paul McNulty, the Virginia state attorney bringing the prosecution against Mr McKinnon, described the Briton's alleged activities as the "biggest hack of military computers ever, at least ever detected".

Lawyers representing Mr McKinnon, of Wood Green, north London, said the impetus behind the extradition proceedings was coming from the Bush administration and criticised the treatment of other British citizens in America, an apparent reference to the Guantanamo Bay detainees.

His solicitor, Karen Todner, said her client was particularly disappointed that it had taken more than two and a half years for the American authorities to apply for his arrest after charges were laid by a federal grand jury in November 2002.

Ms Todner said: "This decision for extradition is driven by the American government. Mr McKinnon intends to contest this case most vigorously.

"Of particular concern to him is the treatment of other British nationals under the American judicial system which inspires little confidence. We believe that as a British national he should be tried here."

 

The computer programmer, who faces 70 years imprisonment and a fine of up to US$250,000, was released on bail after agreeing to pay a £5,000 surety.

His bail conditions included not booking tickets to travel abroad and not accessing the internet.

According to his grand jury indictment, Mr McKinnon used Hungarian software downloaded from the web to scan thousands of American military computers and gain control of machines remotely with simple-to-guess passwords.

He is accused of then causing systems he had electronically burgled to shut down as well as stealing passwords, deleting 1300 email accounts and downloading "sensitive" - but not classified - information about US navy ship building and munitions.

One attack, 12 days after 11 September 2001, on the Earle naval base in New Jersey, where the US Atlantic fleet is armed and supplied, is claimed to have caused the shut down of a network of 300 computers for a week.

Christopher Christie, a New Jersey state attorney, said: "This was a grave intrusion into a vital military computer system at a time when we, as a nation, had to summon all our defences against further attack."

American prosecutors have already conceded that Mr McKinnon was not acting for any terror group or passing on his information to another government or organisation.

Instead, it has been suggested that the Briton, whose non-military targets included two public libraries and a company producing electronic maps, was searching for information to prove a US government cover-up of the existence of UFOs.

Mr McKinnon, who used the internet nickname Solo, was first arrested by officers from Scotland Yard's hi-tech crime unit in March 2002 but no charges were brought against him in Britain.

The request for his extradition to America, which was formally made this week, is the first from Britain to the United States in an international hacking case.

Previous cases have been prosecuted in the UK under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act, which allows hackers to be charged with raiding networks abroad.

Mr McKinnon, dressed in a baggy grey jumper and green combat trousers, was ordered to reappear for an extradition hearing on 27 July.

- INDEPENDENT