NY Times hacker surrenders, is released

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/32747.html

By Kevin Poulsen
SecurityFocus
Posted: 10/09/2003 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A federal judge ordered Adrian Lamo released to
his parents Tuesday afternoon, but barred the hacker from using
computers, and ordered him to obtain full-time employment pending
trial.

Federal magistrate judge Gregory Hollows ordered Lamo released on a
$250,000 bond, part of it secured by his parent's house, in accordance
with a negotiated surrender deal reached between the federal public
defender's office and New York prosecutors Monday.

The high bail was necessary, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Camil
Skipper, because of the hacker's nomadic reputation. "He has led a
transient lifestyle, he has been known as the 'homeless hacker,'"  
Skipper told the court.

Under the terms of his release, Lamo's future wanderings will be
confined to the northeastern half of California, and southern New York
state, unless he gets prior approval of the court to travel elsewhere.

He was ordered to fly to New York City at the government's expense and
turn himself in to FBI agents Thursday morning.

There, he faces a two-count federal complaint charging him with
illegally accessing the New York Times internal network last year. One
count charges Lamo with computer intrusion; a second with unauthorized
posession of "access devices." Federal deputy public defender Mary
French said Monday the access devices refer to passwords for the
Lexis-Nexis database service allegedly obtained from the Times
network.

In custody since his surrender Tuesday morning, Lamo appeared in court
in his street clothes, with his hands cuffed at his waist, and
listened quietly as Hollows read him his rights. Lamo's mother, Mary
Lamo, sat at the back of the courtroom.

Computer Ban

Following the recommendation of a federal pretrial services officer
who interviewed the hacker in custody, Hollows ordered Lamo to obtain
full-time employment or enroll in college pending trial. The ban on
computer use was the judge's idea.

"This whole business of computer hacking, viruses and so forth is
getting very wearisome," said Hollows, explaining his thinking from
the bench.

In recent weeks the Blaster computer worm and the latest variant of
the SoBig virus have wreaked havoc on Windows machines throughout the
Internet. But virus-writing has little to do with Adrian Lamo.

The hacker has become famous for publicly exposing gaping security
holes at large corporations, then volunteering to help the companies
fix the vulnerabilities he exploited -- sometimes visiting their
offices or signing non-disclosure agreements in the process. Until
now, his cooperation and transparency have kept him from being
prosecuted.

In an interview the eve of his surrender, Lamo said he had no regrets.

"My views may change as this goes on, but I still think this has
somehow all been worthwhile," said the hacker in a telephone
interview. "There's no action that I've ever taken that I'm not
willing to accept the consequences for."

Lamo appeared at the federal courthouse here at around 9:30 a.m.  
Pacific time, trailing camera crews from cable network TechTV, and
TriggerStreet, Kevin Spacey's production company, which is filming a
documentary on hackers. The TriggerStreet crew has been with Lamo
since late Thursday, when the hacker learned that the FBI was
searching for him.

The 22-year-old was without the backpack that he usually carries,
containing a change of clothes and the laptop computer with which he's
hacked some of America's largest corporations. "What backpack?," he
quipped. "I lost it. It fell off a bridge."

Lamo's supporters have erected a website at FreeLamo.com to support
Lamo "and his fight for freedom."

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York did not
return phone calls on the case.

Lamo's bail conditions could be changed when he appears in New York.



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