Cyber hacker against US government may face trial in US

A Cyber attacker against the US government to face trial in the US.

British Nasa Hacker loses extradition fight

By staff and agencies
Last Updated: 7:09pm BST 03/04/2007

A British computer hacker accused of committing one of the largest ever cyber-attacks on the US government has lost his High Court challenge to avoid extradition to America.

Gary McKinnon will be extradited to the US
Gary McKinnon will challenge the ruling in the House of Lords

Gary McKinnon, a 41-year-old former computer systems administrator known online as "Solo", had challenged a decision by John Reid to send him to the US to face trial for illegally accessing military and NASA computer systems.

A judge ruled last May that McKinnon, indicted in New Jersey and northern Virginia, should face trial in the United States and Mr Reid signed off on the request.

McKinnon, who was arrested in 2002, is accused of hacking into around 100 US government computers between February 2001 and March 2002, causing around $700,000 (£354,400) damage.

One attack, which occurred immediately after Sept 11 targeted the Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey and shut down its computer system for a week.
advertisement

McKinnon was caught after some of the software used in the attacks was traced back to his girlfriend's e-mail account.

The Briton had claimed he could face prosecution under US anti-terror laws and told a British court he accessed systems because he was looking for evidence that America was concealing the existence of UFOs.

But Judge Nicholas Evans said at an earlier court hearing that McKinnon had left notes on computer systems criticizing American foreign policy.

"US foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism," Judge Evans quoted one such note as saying.

Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Justice Goldring, at the High Court, said McKinnon had no grounds to appeal his extradition, but also expressed their disquiet at an alleged American threat to deny him the right to serve out part of his sentence in Britain.

McKinnon's refusal to plead guilty in the United States had earned him the ire of the American authorities, who were preparing to prosecute him as cyber-terrorist and bar him from serving out part of his sentence in Britain, his lawyers said in a statement.

"His punishment could not be more severe," the statement said. "It amounts to a life sentence in a foreign country."

McKinnon is applying to have his case heard in the House of Lords, Britain's highest court of appeal.