Technical details could slow trial of accused hacker 'Mafiaboy'

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500288120-500455675-502997836-0,00.html

MONTREAL (December 8, 2000 6:37 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
The trial of a 16-year-old computer hacker accused of paralyzing large
Web sites such as CNN, Yahoo! and Amazon.com in February could last
six months because of the technical evidence, his lawyer said Friday.

At a court hearing for the suspect, who cannot be named under Canadian
law but is known by his computer nickname Mafiaboy, Judge Gilles
Ouellette scheduled another hearing for Dec. 13 on whether a
pre-conference meeting should take place to speed up the process.

The youth stood with his hands cuffed behind his back throughout
Friday's 15-minute court appearance. He wore a black T-shirt adorned
with a dragon draped in a U.S. flag and said nothing.

Police rearrested the youth on Dec. 1 for violating conditions of his
release from custody after being charged in April with more than 60
counts of computer hacking and mischief. He has pleaded innocent to
the charges, which involve the temporary disabling of Web sites by
bombarding them with messages.

If convicted, he could spend up to two years in a juvenile detention
center. An adult convicted of the same charges would face up to 10
years in prison.

After his initial arrest, the youth was allowed to live at home under
strict conditions that included staying away from computers, attending
school and keeping out of trouble.

He was taken back into custody for being suspended from school,
cutting classes, arguing with teachers and other disciplinary
problems.

His lawyer, Yan Romanowski, said Friday the stress of the criminal
case was a factor in the youth's problems at school.

He said he would file an appeal to the youth's continued detention
next week. The trial would last from three to six months, Romanowski
said, because "it will be very technical, there will be many witnesses
in a field which is very technical."

The hacking case in February raised concern worldwide about the
vulnerability of major Web sites as dependence on the Internet for
communication and commerce increases.

Police say Mafiaboy crippled the Web sites by bombarding them with
thousands of simultaneous messages. Prosecutors also allege he broke
into several computers, mostly at U.S. universities, and used them to
launch the attack against the Web sites.

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