Most Overhyped Hacker Loses Extradition Appeal

from the welcome-to-America dept

Tue, Apr 3rd 2007 10:27am — Mike Masnick

The U.S. government isn't known for downplaying supposed threats, which probably explains why they've continually referred to Gary McKinnon, the London-based hacker who broke into some military networks while high on drugs in an attempt to hunt down UFO info as the world's "biggest" hacker (later adjusted to be the world's biggest "military" hacker). The details suggest the guy was more like a traditional computer cracker who stumbled his way through bad military security into a place he shouldn't have been -- hardly the huge threat the government has made him out to be. He clearly broke the law, however (and he admits it as well). He's been fighting extradition attempts, pointing out that the US government seems to be exaggerating his hacks a great deal, but the UK High Court has rejected his appeal, meaning he's probably heading over to the US to face a trial, where the "biggest military hacker" tag will likely dominate headlines for a while.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

20 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymoous of Course, 3 Apr 2007 @ 10:43am

It's the old game
They catch this guy, or someone like Mitnick,
and screw them to the wall as a warning.

I feel sorry for him because the punishment will
be out of any proportion to the crime.

Instead of worrying about hackers how about
not loosing hard drives and laptops willy nilly.

In the end it's all crap when companies like
Loral Corp can sell senstive technology to China.

$$$
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Cunk, 3 Apr 2007 @ 2:24pm
  
  Re: It's the old game
  Your poem doesn't rhyme.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Robert W, 3 Apr 2007 @ 11:00am

Not quite...
They didn't "screw" Mitnick, they gave him a job. This guy is just a poser, and should be tried and found guilty for being stupid.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2007 @ 11:10am
  
  Re: Not quite...
  They did screw mitnick over, he didn't get the job till after he served his time. Same thing will happen with this guy. After he does his time, he will be able to charge whatever he wants to charge to big companies. Imagine having the "worlds biggest hacker" taking care of the security for your company.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Jeff, 3 Apr 2007 @ 2:30pm
  
  Re: Not quite...
  A poser? Do you even know anything about Mitnick? The guy was on the verge of being untraceable by hacking via cell phone systems when he was arrested. Try doing some basic research before making statements.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Casper, 3 Apr 2007 @ 2:56pm
    
    Re: Re: Not quite...
    "A poser? Do you even know anything about Mitnick? The guy was on the verge of being untraceable by hacking via cell phone systems when he was arrested. Try doing some basic research before making statements."
    
    He obviously didn't do a very good job. Even intermediate level hackers have a very high success ratio of never being caught. By the way, being on the "verge" of being untraceable is the same as saying he was "close", and "close" only counts with horse shoes and hand grenades.
    
    I actually knew someone who got arrested for hacking into FBI systems a while back. The only reason they caught him is because he kept going back and got cocky... come to think of it, he was from England as well. Anyway, he was by no means a great hacker, but he managed to be invisible for years, and while he wasn't doing anything malicious (just snooping), it defiantly made me worry about the security of the governments systems.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Monarch, 3 Apr 2007 @ 11:34am

If you've read previous news stories on this guys, you'd know he couldn't hack his way out of a paper bag without help.
All he did was get known security exploits from message boards and try them on the US Govt. Sites in question. Got through on a couple. Kept snooping those sites for weeks at a time until finally someone on the US Govt side noticed.

He's being tried for sheer stupidity, not hacking.

And any company that would hire him after he serves time, on his infamous title at least, would be hiring him through sheer stupidity too.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Black Ize (profile), 3 Apr 2007 @ 11:34am

Really Good Hackers/Crackers are rarely caught.
I would in IT as a Security consultant and the ones that get caught are usually caught because they are not all that good. I had to spend over three months trying track down a hacker/cracker that broke in one of my clients systems. We never did get him just found where he had been. We couldn't even find out for sure what information he was after. Those are the hackers you never hear about.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
BillDivX, 3 Apr 2007 @ 11:35am

Well...
If big companies had "The world's biggest hacker" as a consultant, maybe he could explain to them why leaving hard drives full of sensitive data laying around is a bad thing...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
none, 3 Apr 2007 @ 11:55am

Gary McKinnon
i just looked at his picture on google images and that guy is one ugly mofo
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Casper, 3 Apr 2007 @ 12:00pm

What did he hack?
All he did was get strung out and wander of the information super highway to look for UFO's.... the little green man sitting next to him said he could. He is just stupid, as many others have said.

The government is going to blame him for the fact they suck at security... who knows how many REAL hackers jump in and out of those systems on a regular basis?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
deargod_no, 3 Apr 2007 @ 1:08pm

Stupid?
Why is it there are people out there who are ex-military who told him about this, and others on the record as knowing something of this sort was out there? Why 27 UFOs in Google Earth? What is going on in the tether video(STS-75)? Why is there a very tall spire in India made of solid steel that has only recently began to show signs of surface rust(it's 5k years old) and the only matching element on this planet was a sample from the moon? Why do ancient Myan and Indian drawing show strange craft and odd shaped looking "people"?

These ponderings do not make me lose sleep, they only ecourage me to make better decisions in how I do my research, and who I listen to. Why look for it if you have more doubt than faith it isn't there in the first place... BBC entertained this story, so carries some weight with me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jazzmyn, 3 Apr 2007 @ 1:53pm

Waste of time and money
What an embarrassment to the United States,insisting on extraditing and prosecuting a guy high on drugs who was chasing UFOs. Don't we have anything better to do with our hard-earned tax dollars, like finding Osama Bin Laden?

The real scary thing is, what if McKinnon's the sane one and those of us who don't believe in UFOs are the crazy ones?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2007 @ 2:16pm
  
  Re: Waste of time and money
  Yoiu may be right there!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
James, 3 Apr 2007 @ 3:03pm

Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick was a socia engineer, not a hacker. He did not have to hack into anything when people were perfectly wiling to give him the information he needed to waltz through the front door.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
lameass, 3 Apr 2007 @ 3:19pm

More Mitnick, more Government
The shitty deal about the Mitnick story is not that he, a US Citizen, btw, was this huge hacker, the real story behind the story is that the US Government held him for over 5 years without charging him with anything, a huge and blatant disregard for the Constitution.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2007 @ 3:28pm

GUANTANAMO FOR ALL HACKERS

no no that's not harsh enough

DEATH TO ALL HACKERS

wait wait . . . hmm

DEATH TO EVERYONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO USE THE INTERNET PIPES . . . . or are they hoses . . oh you know what I mean.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Joe, 3 Apr 2007 @ 3:34pm

Tubes
The internet is a series of Tubes - not pipes or hoses.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 4 Apr 2007 @ 6:10am

Better worry
If all they found was this guy hacking their systems you better lose sleep. It means the organized groups from China, Russia, etc are in those systems all the time. Those computers seem to be secured with a screen door...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Gargantuan, 4 Apr 2007 @ 8:54am

get your read right
@13

go back and re-read #2's comment, he wasn't calling Mitnik a poser, he was calling Gary a poser.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]