{"id":1295,"date":"2008-06-16T20:12:03","date_gmt":"2008-06-16T20:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/2008\/06\/16\/gary-mckinnons\/"},"modified":"2008-06-16T20:12:03","modified_gmt":"2008-06-16T20:12:03","slug":"gary-mckinnons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/gary-mckinnons\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE: Pentagon UFO\/ET hacker vows to take USA extradition fight to European Union (EU)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2>\n<div><a onclick=\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2008\/06\/16\/mckinnon_law_lords\/\"><span style=\"color: #4563b9;\">http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk<wbr><\/wbr>\/2008\/06\/16\/mckinnon_law_lords\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a onclick=\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2008\/06\/16\/mckinnon_law_lords\/print.html\"><span style=\"color: #4563b9;\">http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk<wbr><\/wbr>\/2008\/06\/16\/mckinnon_law_lords<wbr><\/wbr>\/print.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Pentagon hacker vows to take extradition fight to Europe<\/h2>\n<div>By <a onclick=\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/forms.theregister.co.uk\/mail_author\/?story_url=\/2008\/06\/16\/mckinnon_law_lords\/\" title=\"Send email to the author\"><u><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Chris Williams<\/span><\/u><\/a><\/div>\n<div><small><span style=\"font-size: 0.8em;\">Published Monday 16th June 2008 17:54 GMT<\/span><\/small><\/div>\n<div>Gary McKinnon&#8217;s legal team said they will take their fight against<br \/>\nhis extradition all the way to the European Court of Human Rights on<br \/>\nMonday, as the highest court in England began deliberations on whether<br \/>\nto turn him over to US authorities.<br \/>The London hacker now faces an anxious wait for the judgment on his latest appeal, which is expected to take about two weeks.<br \/>During<br \/>\na day-long session of legal nit-picking, five Law Lords heard<br \/>\nMcKinnon&#8217;s barrister, David Pannick QC, argued that the US had abused<br \/>\nprocess by trying to strong-arm his client into accepting extradition<br \/>\nand pleading guilty.<\/p>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"382\" src=\"http:\/\/regmedia.co.uk\/2007\/05\/03\/gary_mckinnon_infosec.jpg\" alt=\"Gary McKinnon at Infosec\" title=\"Gary McKinnon at Infosec\" \/> Gary McKinnon at Infosec 2007<\/div>\n<h3>&#8216;Play by our rules&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>Pannick told the hearing: &quot;If the United<br \/>\nStates wish to use the processes of English courts to secure the<br \/>\nextradition of an alleged offender then they must play by our rules.&quot;<br \/>It<br \/>\nemerged that in exchange for compliance, US prosecutors offered to<br \/>\nwithdraw a threat to block any application for McKinnon to be<br \/>\nrepatriated to serve most of his time in a UK jail. This threat is<br \/>\ncentral to his lawyers&#8217; claims of abuse of process.<script><!--\nD([\"mb\",\"\\u003cbr\\u003eThe bargain offered by the US Embassy\\u0026#39;s Ed Gibson (who is now Microsoft UK\\u0026#39;s chief security adviser) for a guilty plea would reduce his sentence from eight-to-ten years, to between three and four years. Combined with the UK\\u0026#39;s more generous parole system, that would mean that McKinnon might have served only two years in prison.\\u003cbr\\u003eIn her evidence, McKinnon\\u0026#39;s solicitor Karen Todner said that in their correspondence the US had told her that failure to play ball would mean \\u0026quot;all bets were off\\u0026quot; and that repatriation to the UK \\u0026quot;would not occur\\u0026quot;. This threat, charged McKinnon\\u0026#39;s team, \\u0026quot;sought to impose pressure to accept extradition and plead guilty\\u0026quot;, and represented an unlawful abuse of the court process that was \\u0026quot;disproportionate [and] reprehensible\\u0026quot;.\\u003cbr\\u003eProsecutors exaggerated their influence over the repatriation process, said Pannick, in a bid to secure McKinnon\\u0026#39;s co-operation, and that had \\u0026quot;made it all the worse\\u0026quot;. Edward Fitzgerald QC, who provided supporting intervention at the hearing on behalf of the civil liberties charity Liberty, said: \\u0026quot;What the prosecution [was] saying is \\u0026#39;I have immense powers and I will use them against you\\u0026#39;.\\u0026quot;\\u003cbr\\u003eMcKinnon has admitted taking advantage of lax security in US systems to install covert software that gave him control of settings and access to files. He was looking for evidence of UFOs. He has not admitted causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage, a claim at the heart of the US government\\u0026#39;s allegations.\\u003cbr\\u003eClare Montgomery QC, acting for the US government, disputed this, saying if McKinnon had refused to cooperate he would have still been considered for a return to the UK. \\u0026quot;This was very close to the type of plea bargaining that might occur here... this was not a case of \\u0026#39;we [US prosecutors] can give or withold the right to transfer [to the UK]\\u0026#39;\\u0026quot; she told the Lords.\\u003cbr\\u003eMontgomery also echoed comments from one of the Lords sitting, Baroness Hale, who had suggested that the deal offered to McKinnon might simply have been \\u0026quot;the facts of life\\u0026quot;, rather than a threat, and that it offered him significant benefits. She scorned calls for Gary McKinnon to face trial in the UK, saying: \\u0026quot;He must have appreciated as he hacked into American computers that he was committing an act that would have had repercussions in America.\\u0026quot;\",1]\n);\n\/\/--><\/script><br \/>The<br \/>\nbargain offered by the US Embassy&#8217;s Ed Gibson (who is now Microsoft<br \/>\nUK&#8217;s chief security adviser) for a guilty plea would reduce his<br \/>\nsentence from eight-to-ten years, to between three and four years.<br \/>\nCombined with the UK&#8217;s more generous parole system, that would mean<br \/>\nthat McKinnon might have served only two years in prison.<br \/>In her<br \/>\nevidence, McKinnon&#8217;s solicitor Karen Todner said that in their<br \/>\ncorrespondence the US had told her that failure to play ball would mean<br \/>\n&quot;all bets were off&quot; and that repatriation to the UK &quot;would not occur&quot;.<br \/>\nThis threat, charged McKinnon&#8217;s team, &quot;sought to impose pressure to<br \/>\naccept extradition and plead guilty&quot;, and represented an unlawful abuse<br \/>\nof the court process that was &quot;disproportionate [and] reprehensible&quot;.<br \/>Prosecutors<br \/>\nexaggerated their influence over the repatriation process, said<br \/>\nPannick, in a bid to secure McKinnon&#8217;s co-operation, and that had &quot;made<br \/>\nit all the worse&quot;. Edward Fitzgerald QC, who provided supporting<br \/>\nintervention at the hearing on behalf of the civil liberties charity<br \/>\nLiberty, said: &quot;What the prosecution [was] saying is &#8216;I have immense<br \/>\npowers and I will use them against you&#8217;.&quot;<br \/>McKinnon has admitted<br \/>\ntaking advantage of lax security in US systems to install covert<br \/>\nsoftware that gave him control of settings and access to files. He was<br \/>\nlooking for evidence of UFOs. He has not admitted causing hundreds of<br \/>\nthousands of dollars of damage, a claim at the heart of the US<br \/>\ngovernment&#8217;s allegations.<br \/>Clare Montgomery QC, acting for the US<br \/>\ngovernment, disputed this, saying if McKinnon had refused to cooperate<br \/>\nhe would have still been considered for a return to the UK. &quot;This was<br \/>\nvery close to the type of plea bargaining that might occur here&#8230; this<br \/>\nwas not a case of &#8216;we [US prosecutors] can give or withold the right to<br \/>\ntransfer [to the UK]&#8217;&quot; she told the Lords.<br \/>Montgomery also echoed<br \/>\ncomments from one of the Lords sitting, Baroness Hale, who had<br \/>\nsuggested that the deal offered to McKinnon might simply have been &quot;the<br \/>\nfacts of life&quot;, rather than a threat, and that it offered him<br \/>\nsignificant benefits. She scorned calls for Gary McKinnon to face trial<br \/>\nin the UK, saying: &quot;He must have appreciated as he hacked into American<br \/>\ncomputers that he was committing an act that would have had<br \/>\nrepercussions in America.&quot;<script><!--\nD([\"mb\",\"\\u003cbr\\u003e\\n\\u003ch3\\u003eOn a knife-edge\\u003c\/h3\\u003eIn the Palace of Westiminster corridors after the hearing, the consensus among the gathered legal minds was that the case is poised on a knife-edge. Nevertheless, McKinnon\\u0026#39;s team were cautiously upbeat.\\u003cbr\\u003eMcKinnon himself attended only the morning session of the hearing, flanked by family and supporters. Win or lose, the saga is set to continue for some time.\\u003cbr\\u003eVictory will override the extradition treaty between the US and UK, and mean the case goes all the way back to Magistrate\\u0026#39;s court. In that scenario, unlike during the process seen so far, judges will consider US evidence against McKinnon. The treaty has not been ratified by Congress so does not allow the UK to reciprocally extradite suspects from the US without evidence hearings.\\u003cbr\\u003eDefeat would be a major blow, but McKinnon\\u0026#39;s team said outside the hearing that it would be by no means the last stand. The precedent set by the European Court of Human Rights in the \\u003ca href\\u003d\\\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2005\/07\/27\/bbc_al_qaeda_internet\/\\\" target\\u003d\\\"_blank\\\" onclick\\u003d\\\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\\\"\\u003e\\u003cu\\u003e\\u003cfont face\\u003d\\\"\\\" color\\u003d\\\"#0000ff\\\"\\u003eBabar Ahmad case\\u003c\/font\\u003e\\u003c\/u\\u003e\\u003c\/a\\u003e (\\u003cspan\\u003e\\u003ca href\\u003d\\\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2005\/07\/27\/bbc_al_qaeda_internet\/\\\" target\\u003d\\\"_blank\\\" onclick\\u003d\\\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\\\"\\u003ehttp:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\\u003cWBR\\u003e\/2005\/07\/27\/bbc_al_qaeda\\u003cWBR\\u003e_internet\/\\u003c\/a\\u003e\\u003c\/span\\u003e) makes a challenge there likely, said solicitor Karen Todner.\\u003cbr\\u003eAnd that can take years. \u00ae\\u003c\/div\\u003e\\u003c\/div\\u003e\\u003c\/h2\\u003e\\u003c\/blockquote\\u003e\\u003cbr\\u003e\\u003chr\\u003e \\u003ca\\u003e\\u003c\/a\\u003e\\u003c\/div\\u003e\\n\",0]\n);\n\/\/--><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>On a knife-edge<\/h3>\n<p>In the Palace of Westiminster corridors after<br \/>\nthe hearing, the consensus among the gathered legal minds was that the<br \/>\ncase is poised on a knife-edge. Nevertheless, McKinnon&#8217;s team were<br \/>\ncautiously upbeat.<br \/>McKinnon himself attended only the morning<br \/>\nsession of the hearing, flanked by family and supporters. Win or lose,<br \/>\nthe saga is set to continue for some time.<br \/>Victory will override the<br \/>\nextradition treaty between the US and UK, and mean the case goes all<br \/>\nthe way back to Magistrate&#8217;s court. In that scenario, unlike during the<br \/>\nprocess seen so far, judges will consider US evidence against McKinnon.<br \/>\nThe treaty has not been ratified by Congress so does not allow the UK<br \/>\nto reciprocally extradite suspects from the US without evidence<br \/>\nhearings.<br \/>Defeat would be a major blow, but McKinnon&#8217;s team said<br \/>\noutside the hearing that it would be by no means the last stand. The<br \/>\nprecedent set by the European Court of Human Rights in the <a onclick=\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2005\/07\/27\/bbc_al_qaeda_internet\/\"><u><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Babar Ahmad case<\/span><\/u><\/a> (<a onclick=\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2005\/07\/27\/bbc_al_qaeda_internet\/\">http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk<wbr><\/wbr>\/2005\/07\/27\/bbc_al_qaeda<wbr><\/wbr>_internet\/<\/a>) makes a challenge there likely, said solicitor Karen Todner.<br \/>And that can take years. \u00ae<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>NOTE: Though Gary McKinnon himself has consistently denied that he was the victim of computer entrapment by the U.S. military intelligence, there are many aspects of his story which appear to sustain the profile of an entrapment.&nbsp; It remains an anolmaly why his legal defense team has steadfastly chosen to avoid exploring this obvious line of defense.<\/p>\n<p>EXOPOLITICS.COM<br \/>June 13 2008<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.itbusinessedge.com\/blogs\/hdw\/?p=2376\">http:\/\/www.itbusinessedge.com<wbr><\/wbr>\/blogs\/hdw\/?p=2376<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n[Quote]<\/p>\n<p><strong>&quot;If this next attempt fails, McKinnon says he will go to the<br \/>\nEuropean Court of Human Rights. But due to the backlog of cases in that<br \/>\ncourt, his extradition could proceed.&quot;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.itbusinessedge.com\/blogs\/hdw\/?p=2376\" title=\"British Hacker Continues to Fight Extradition\"><span style=\"color: #202975;\">British Hacker Continues to Fight Extradition <\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Posted by Kara Reeder on June 13, 2008 at 9:05 am<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.infoworld.com\/article\/08\/06\/13\/British_hacker_faces_extradition_hearing_1.html\"><u><span style=\"color: #202975;\">British hacker Gary McKinnon<\/span><\/u><\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nis preparing for his final UK appeal to fight extradition to the U.S.<br \/>\nMcKinnon has been charged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern<br \/>\nDistrict of Virginia and faces up to 60 years in prison.<br \/>\nLast year, we reported how McKinnon illegally accessed the computers of<br \/>\nthe U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Defense and NASA <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.itbusinessedge.com\/blogs\/hdw\/?p=73\"><u><span style=\"color: #202975;\">looking for evidence of a UFO cover-up<\/span><\/u><\/a><\/strong>.<br \/>\nEven though McKinnon claims he had no malicious intent, the U.S. says<br \/>\nhis intrusions disrupted computer networks that were critical to<br \/>\noperations after 9\/11.<br \/>\n<strong>Infoworld <\/strong>reports that McKinnon has already lost an<br \/>\nappeal in London\u2019s High Court. If this next attempt fails, McKinnon<br \/>\nsays he will go to the European Court of Human Rights. But due to the<br \/>\nbacklog of cases in that court, his extradition could proceed.<\/p>\n<p>\n===<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heise-online.co.uk\/news\/McKinnon-s-last-ditch-appeal-to-be-heard-by-Lords--\/110926\">http:\/\/www.heise-online.co.uk<wbr><\/wbr>\/news\/McKinnon-s-last-ditch<wbr><\/wbr>-appeal-to-be-heard-by-Lords&#8211;<wbr><\/wbr>\/110926<\/a><\/p>\n<div>13 June 2008, 18:06<\/div>\n<h1>McKinnon&#8217;s last ditch appeal to be heard by Lords<\/h1>\n<p>\nMonday June 16 will be a make or break day for Gary McKinnon. His<br \/>\nappeal will be heard by the UK&#8217;s highest Court against extradition to<br \/>\nthe US on charges relating to penetration of NASA and US Defense<br \/>\nDepartment computers between February 2001 and March 2002. The<br \/>\nAmericans alleged that his activities hampered national security<br \/>\nmeasures in the aftermath of 9\/11 and estimated that he caused damage<br \/>\nvalued at around $700,000. That sum opens up the possibility of a 60<br \/>\nyear sentence at worst.<br \/>\nArrested in 2002 in one of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heise-online.co.uk\/security\/E-crime-policing-genuine-response-or-token-gesture--\/features\/110629\" title=\"E-crime policing - genuine response or token gesture?\"><u><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">NHTCU&#8217;s<\/span><\/u><\/a><br \/>\nearly successes, the London ex-sysadmin has always claimed that<br \/>\nalthough he did break into the computers he caused no damage, but<br \/>\nmerely nosed around among records relating to UFO sightings. He has<br \/>\nalso maintained that he was never a master hacker, but found numerous<br \/>\nadministrative accounts on US government computers with default \u2013 or no<br \/>\n\u2013 password. However he cannot use either of these arguments on Monday.<br \/>\nThe Law Lords can only hear matters relating to points of law or abuse<br \/>\nof legal process, so McKinnon has had to restrict his appeal to the<br \/>\napparent lack of ratification for the extradition treaty the US is<br \/>\nrelying on. He also maintains that the process has been abused via<br \/>\nthreats of extreme severity on the part of the US if he did not<br \/>\nco-operate with them. He claims that on one occasion he was told the US<br \/>\n&quot;wants to see him fry&quot;.<br \/>\nHe was apparently offered a plea bargain with a four year sentence<br \/>\nattached, but refused the offer as they would not put it in writing.<br \/>\nOther inducements to co-operate have apparently included an <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/news.zdnet.co.uk\/security\/0,1000000189,39263341,00.htm\"><u><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">unsigned note from the US Embassy<\/span><\/u><\/a>,<br \/>\npresented at McKinnon&#8217;s first extradition hearing, claimed to be a<br \/>\nguarantee that McKinnon would not be tried under Military Order Number<br \/>\nOne \u2013 used against suspected terrorists to try them under military law,<br \/>\nor hold them indefinitely without trial. His defence argued it was not<br \/>\nlegally binding as it was unsigned. There have been rumours that the US<br \/>\nmight incarcerate McKinnon at Guantanamo Bay.<br \/>\nIn view of the contentious nature of McKinnon&#8217;s allegations concerning<br \/>\nabuse of process, the US lawyers may challenge his evidence on Monday.<br \/>\nThe Law Lords would then have the option of referring the case back to<br \/>\nBow Street Magistrates Court, where McKinnon&#8217;s original extradition<br \/>\nhearing took place.<br \/>\nMcKinnon gets two hours to present his appeal on Monday, and must then<br \/>\nwait around three weeks for a decision. If the Law Lords decide against<br \/>\nhim he says he will take his case to the European Court of Human<br \/>\nRights. However the backlog in that court is so great that McKinnon<br \/>\nwould have long been resident in the US before his case could come up<br \/>\nfor hearing. <\/p>\n<p>\n===<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/Articles\/2008\/06\/13\/231057\/us-miliary-systems-trusted-hacker-gary-mckinnon.htm\">http:\/\/www.computerweekly.com<wbr><\/wbr>\/Articles\/2008\/06\/13\/231057\/us<wbr><\/wbr>-miliary-systems-trusted<wbr><\/wbr>-hacker-gary-mckinnon.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<h1>US miliary systems trusted hacker Gary McKinnon<\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"207\" src=\"http:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/Home\/GetAsset2.aspx?ItemID=40829\" alt=\"McKinnon\" \/> <\/p>\n<dl>\n<dt>Author: <\/dt>\n<dd><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/authors\/articleauthor.aspx?liArticleID=231057\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">Ian Grant<\/span><\/a> <\/dd>\n<dt>Posted: <\/dt>\n<dd>16:51 13 Jun 2008 <\/dd>\n<dt>Topics: <\/dt>\n<dd><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/Home\/RefinedSearch.aspx?cat=IT%2fComputer+Hardware&amp;key=Computer+Hardware&amp;ct=NewsAndBlogs&amp;sort=Relevance&amp;ft=0\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">Computer Hardware <\/span><\/a><\/dd>\n<dd>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<p>\nSelf-confessed hacker <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/Articles\/2007\/04\/03\/222859\/nasa-hacker-loses-us-extradition-appeal.htm\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">Gary McKinnon<\/span><\/a> goes to the House of Lords on Monday to fight against extradition to the US. <br \/>\nBy his side will be human rights watchdog <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk\/\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">Liberty<\/span><\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.blackstonechambers.com\/people\/barristers\/david_pannick_qc.html\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">David Pannick<\/span><\/a>, a specialist public and human right QC who has argued many times before the lords. <br \/>\nOpposing him will be the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cps.gov.uk\/\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">Crown Prosecution Service<\/span><\/a>,<br \/>\nacting for the US government. British taxpayers will pay both the CPS&#8217;s<br \/>\ncosts and much of McKinnon&#8217;s. The total so far is estimated to be close<br \/>\nto \u00a3900,000.<br \/>\nThe law lords will decide whether US prosecutors unfairly tried to<br \/>\ncoerce McKinnon into a plea bargain. If they judge that the officials&#8217;<br \/>\nactions were an abuse of the extradition process, McKinnon will not be<br \/>\nextradited, says McKinnon&#8217;s attorney, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaimtodner.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">Karen Todner<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>ADVERTISEMENT<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/adserver.adtech.de\/adlink%7C289%7C1437240%7C1%7C277%7CAdId%3D1018189%3BBnId%3D8%3Bitime%3D382676210%3Bnodecode%3Dyes%3Blink%3Dhttp:\/\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/adtech.panthercustomer.com\/apps\/333\/Ad1018189St3Sz277Sq292734V0Id8\/filler1x1.gif\" \/><\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/adserver.adtech.de\/?adlink%7C2.0%7C289%7C1437240%7C1%7C277%7C;grp=3100135;loc=300;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2\" height=\"2\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/adserver.adtech.de\/?adserv%7C2.0%7C289%7C1437240%7C1%7C277%7C;misc=84128;grp=3100135;\" \/><\/a>&nbsp; <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.usdoj.gov\/usao\/nj\/press\/files\/mc1112_r.htm\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">US prosecutors accuse<\/span><\/a> McKinnon of hacking into nearly 100 federal computer systems and causing damage worth \u00a3350,000 to systems and data files. <br \/>\nMcKinnon admits to gaining access to various US government computer<br \/>\nsystems, but denies causing any damage or disruption on the scale<br \/>\nclaimed.<br \/>\nThe former <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/National_Hi-Tech_Crime_Unit\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">National High Tech Crime Unit<\/span><\/a><br \/>\narrested McKinnon in 2002, three years after he began looking for<br \/>\nevidence of extra-terrestrial beings and technologies on US computers.<br \/>\nMcKinnon was obsessed with finding evidence that the US government was<br \/>\nhiding alien technology that would provide free energy. Had he found<br \/>\nit, he &quot;was going to blow it to the world&#8217;s press&quot;, he said. <br \/>\nIt was child&#8217;s play to get into US military systems, McKinnon said.<br \/>\nMany were running Netbios over TCP\/IP with blank or default passwords,<br \/>\nwhich allowed him to access-administrator privileges. <br \/>\nHe admitted writing scripts to harvest passwords, and to using password crackers to get into more protected systems.<br \/>\nGaining secret access was clearly seductive. McKinnon speaks of<br \/>\n&quot;megalomaniacal&quot; feelings when he was deep inside systems. But he was<br \/>\nnot alone, he said. By querying who else was connected and<br \/>\ninvestigating IP addresses, he found Chinese, European and other<br \/>\nnationals visiting the same computer systems. &quot;At first I thought they<br \/>\nmight be offsite contract workers, but that was not the case,&quot; he said.<br \/>\nOnce he was inside a network, especially a military network, McKinnon<br \/>\nfound that other computer systems considered him a trusted user. This<br \/>\nwas how he was able to get into the Pentagon&#8217;s network. &quot;It was really<br \/>\nby accident,&quot; he says.<br \/>\nThe most secret system McKinnon said that he hacked was <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.globalsecurity.org\/military\/facility\/china-lake.htm\"><span style=\"color: #0973b6;\">China Lake<\/span><\/a>, a facility that develops airborne weapons for the US Navy and Marine Corps.<br \/>\nHe found little evidence of other-world natives or technology, except<br \/>\nfor a spreadsheet that listed &quot;non-terrestrial officers, ships&#8217; names<br \/>\nand goods movements&quot;, and a picture of what he said was a UFO with a<br \/>\nperfectly smooth surface. <br \/>\nWould he do it again? &quot;Never. I would go through legitimate channels such as the Freedom of Information Act,&quot; he says.<br \/>\nThe former systems administrator supported himself by driving a<br \/>\nforklift truck as he waited for the legal process to run its course.<br \/>\nThe work dried up as employers grew unhappy with the attention the<br \/>\nmedia focused on him. He now lives on benefits.<br \/>\nMcKinnon says National Hi-Tech Crime Unit officers told him then a<br \/>\nBritish court would probably give him six months&#8217; community service,<br \/>\nwhich he was prepared to accept. If extradited and convicted, he faces<br \/>\n60 or more years in a US jail.<br \/>\nHacker advises on how to protect your network<br \/>\nGary McKinnon, who is fighting extradition to the US to face hacking<br \/>\ncharges, offers CIOs and network administrators a few words of advice<br \/>\non network protection. <br \/>\nThe advice is based on his own experiences of unauthorised access to US federal, defence and space systems.<br \/>\n1. Make sure your PCs run only in business hours, ie. 9 to 5.<br \/>\n2. Do not have blank or default passwords for local administrator privileges.<br \/>\n3. If you set up a password on a PC for a local administrator, make<br \/>\nsure each PC has a different password for that administrator.<br \/>\n4. Do not put unprotected files on the network that describe what each machine on the network does.<br \/>\n5. Do not use Netbios over TCP\/IP.<br \/>\n6. Do not run Windows.<\/p>\n<p>VIEW\/COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE:<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/exopolitics.blogs.com\/exopolitics\/2008\/06\/gary-mckinnons.html\">http:\/\/exopolitics.blogs.com\/exopolitics\/2008\/06\/gary-mckinnons.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omniversity.us\/exopolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}