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Michigan "Anti-Hacker" Law's First Felony Charges
From: William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 23:33:21 -0500
http://167.240.254.37/AGWebSite/press_release/pr10189.htm September 14, 2000 Attorney General Jennifer Granholm today announced that she has filed felony criminal charges against two Michigan men each accused of "hacking" - or unlawfully entering - a third-party computer system. The charges are the first under a Michigan law which makes the unauthorized alteration, damage or use of a computer system a felony. In two separate hacking cases, Granholm alleges that Brian Salcedo, age 17 of Whitmore Lake, and Jesse Salens, age 19 of Dearborn, each gained unauthorized access to a third-party computer system, and then either stole or destroyed information on the system. Salcedo and Salens were each charged with one count of unauthorized use, alteration or destruction of a computer system. The Salcedo charge was filed in the 15th District Court in Ann Arbor; the Salens charge was filed in the 19th District Court in Dearborn. Granholm said: "Hacking is the dark side of high technology's power and progress. For every person using a computer or the Internet for research, commerce or communication, there may be another person using that technology to commit a crime. The Internet, unfortunately, has become one more tool to pick the locks of companies across the country." In the Salcedo case, the complaint alleges that, in March 2000, Brian Salcedo gained unauthorized access to a computer system belonging to a non-profit Internet service company in Ann Arbor called "Arbornet." The company offered free or low-cost Internet service to customers around the world through a public access system called "M-Net." According to the complaint, Salcedo hacked into the M-Net system, placed a program on the M-Net server that allowed him to use it securely, then used the program to steal and change administrators' passwords. The complaint further alleges that Salcedo used an administrator's password to open an M-Net user's e-mail files at the University of Maryland. On May 31, while Salcedo had access to the M-Net system, the system crashed and did not recover. On June 7, 2000, an M-Net employee received an e-mail message from a user identified only as 6122 () grex org who claimed to have hacked into the M-Net system. On June 11, 2000, Salcedo met with M-Net employees and admitted that he was "6122," that he had hacked into the system, and that he had stolen a number of passwords. The M-Net system remained down into July and became available only after M-Net replaced the system's equipment. In the Salens case, the complaint alleges that, on or about March 2, 2000, Jesse Salens hacked into the Dearborn Public Schools' computer system and altered a number of pages on the school's web site. Access to the web site is limited to the school's Instructional Computer Network Manager. According to the complaint, Salens inserted text and graphics into the web site, made malicious comments about school employees and rewrote the school's "Core Value" page. The complaint also alleges that a pornographic image was placed on the site which was programmed to alternate with a photograph of the school system's superintendent. The unauthorized postings were traced to an Earthlink Internet Service Provider account in Salens' name by analyzing the digital files which log activity on the web site. On April 5, 2000, agents from the Attorney General's High Tech Crime Unit and the Michigan State Police seized the hard drive of Salens' computer. Forensic investigators subsequently found evidence of the altered images. Under current Michigan law, the unauthorized alteration, damage, destruction or use of a computer system resulting in at least $1,000 in damage is a felony punishable by 5 years in jail and/or a fine of $10,000 or three times the aggregate amount involved, whichever is greater. An amendment to the law, however, which takes effect September 19, will remove the $1,000 damage threshold. Granholm added: "In the future, any hacking, regardless of the amount of financial damage it causes, will be a felony. A vandal is a vandal whether you are a virtual vandal putting graffiti on a web site or a real world vandal putting graffiti on a wall. Both are illegal. And using a computer to break into a company from the comfort of your living room is just as illegal as using a hammer to break down that company's front door. Because the Internet makes the crime easier doesn't mean that it makes it right. These are the first hacking charges in this state; you can bet that they won't be the last." A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ================================================================ C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org *==============================================================* ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
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