“To hear the US government tell it, Gary McKinnon is a dangerous man, and should be extradited back to America to stand trial in a Virginia courtroom,” Clark Boyd reports for BBC News. “One US prosecutor has accused him of committing ‘the biggest military computer hack of all time.’ If extradited, Mr McKinnon could face decades in US jail, and fines of close to $2m.”
“The US government alleges that between February 2001 and March 2002, the 40-year-old computer enthusiast from North London hacked into dozens of US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense computers, as well as 16 Nasa computers,” Boyd reports. “It says his hacking caused some $700,000 dollars worth of damage to government systems. What’s more, they allege that Mr McKinnon altered and deleted files at a US Naval Air Station not long after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and that the attack rendered critical systems inoperable. The US government also says Mr McKinnon once took down an entire network of 2,000 US Army computers. His goal, they claim, was to access classified information.”
McKinnon admits “that he hacked into dozens of US government computer systems. In fact, he calmly detailed just how easy it was to access extremely sensitive information in those systems. ‘I found out that the US military use Windows,’ said Mr McKinnon in that BBC interview. ‘And having realised this, I assumed it would probably be an easy hack if they hadn’t secured it properly.’ Using commercially available software, Mr McKinnon probed dozens of US military and government networks. He found many machines without adequate password or firewall protection. So, he simply hacked into them,” Boyd reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: That the US military would use insecure Microsoft Windows operating systems for any computer containing sensitive information is beyond belief.
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Doesn’t the EULA in Windows prohibit the use of Windows in such environments?
well, mac isn’t also better platform for military, too. it’s different market unlikely Apple pursues, and designs for. I think Linux is better choice for future military industry.
bat hasnt he done them a favour, better someone just showing them how unsecure they are than a terrorist actually hacking in and using the information, the govenment should be thanking him and locking the armies IT department in prison for neglegence really
Oh, so the system’s were only inoperable because they were hacked were they?
Yeah, I believe that.
Mind you, how stupid is this Gary fellow?
“I’ll go do some hacking. Who can I hack? I know, the most powerful military force on the planet! That’s a great idea, and guaranteed not to have any comeback.”
I agree with MDN on this one. This is simply unbelievable that our government still no idea what real Computer Security is. I’m not blaming them for using Windows, this is, of course, what happens when you deal with lowest bid contracting afterall. (How low can you go, other than to Windows?) But to set them up without proper firewall and security measures, it’s simply inexcusable.
A year or two ago a section of the Army I believe switched to Macs for this reason. If someone remebers that article please post it. It was a great read on why to use Macs.
This guy deserves a medal, not a jail cell. I don’t condone any damage, deletions or network disruptions he has created, but there are obviously many in key military and government positions that need a wake-up call.
why wont any friggin business sue MS for all the money lost by Windows being poor.
Im sure that virus and malware and BSOD has caused more damages to the worlds businesses than the $700,000 this guy caused.
stop jailing the people who do drugs, and go after the drug dealers
‘I found out that the US military use Windows,’ said Mr McKinnon in that BBC interview.
If you don’t take care of your feet, you get foot rot.
If you don’t keep your weapon clean, it could jam when you need it the most.
If you don’t post sentries around your perimeter, you’re likely to be infiltrated.
If you don’t reconnoiter the terrain in advance, you’re likely to be ambushed.
What you don’t need to do is worry about your Windows computer because Microsoft is the biggest software company on the planet. Just bend over, put your legs between your knees, and kiss your sorry ass because we’re all doomed.
MDN nailed it.
But you must understand that Microsoft FUD-casters relentlessly work the government agencies to inflict Windows on all government operations. They identify all those who have the power to make or prevent purchasing decisions and they manipulate them into favoring Windows and banning all alternatives.
I just hope we all come to the point where choosing Windows in government or industry is declared prima facia evidence of incompetence and/or corruption.
actually i think army.gov is hosted on a mac
or was it freeBSD?
Everything in the US is beyond belief… starting from the President !
no offense to anyone …
Wow, I sure feel secure living in the U.S.
I’m glad homeland security is taking measures in keeping me safe with their investment in MS windows……..NOT!!!!!
I am a network designer/engineer in the Marines and I will say that Windows is the only thing we use. During one exercise last year, we got hit so hard with a virus that it crippled the entire operation for a few hours. Windows is used for all networks, from non-secure to top-secret.
I personally carry a Powerbook G4 everywhere I go but am phohibited from using it on the network because of fears of unsecurity (go figure). The US Military is 95% Windows and I have seen countless down time because of that. This story come as no surprise.
It may prohibit it, but that isn’t a legal prohibition meaning that the end user isn’t *allowed* or *able* to use it in secure environments; it just indemnifies the evil Redmond Empire from legal responsibility when the planes start falling from the sky if he does.
Trust me, the military is not that dumb to use a common operating system for sensitive data.
They do have Windows PC’s around to give that impression, to catch hackers and spy’s and such.
They also have Windows PC’s around to create the image that they are a all Windows opertation to mask their use of a really secure, unreleased operating system.
This is why the US Governement props up Microsoft so much to keep it dominant. If everyone else is using a insecure operating system and that’s basically the only thing the rest of the world can get, that gives the military a great tatical advantage.
Of course they can’t let on that they are using anything else or else all these other countries would want it too.
Only recently has these other countries realized they need to develop their own OS in order to kee their data secure.
The letter I just sent to my two Senators and Congressmen…
I am totally dumbfounded to have read an article on the BBC’s website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4715612.stm) profiling a gentleman named Gary McKinnon, who has been charged with hacking into dozens of U.S. Military computer systems from a foreign nation. He was able to successfully do his hacking because our military runs the Windows operating system and not a secure, Unix-based operating system such as Linux, Mac OS X, BSD, or Solaris. I dread to think what could have happened if he were in the employ of an enemy of our nation.
Why is our military, where security is of the highest priority, using Windows? Why are my tax dollars being wasted on a computer OS with enough holes in it for an army of suicide bombers to walk through? Why is the military not standardized on secure a Unix variant?
http://www.army.mil is hosted on a mac
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.army.mil
MacDude you must be smoking some serious grade skunk, your paranoia is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.
Chill man, Micro$oft are dominant because they cheat!
Wasn’t a naval destroyer disabled by the blue screen of death?
“He found many machines without adequate password or firewall protection.”
Guess that kind of says it all. Its easy to break into a house when all the doors and windows are wide open.
If you are going to run a network, regardless of OS, you should take the time to secure it properly. On my Linux box, if I don’t rename the root account something else and I make its password ‘123’, I’m gonna expect to be hacked into pretty easily.
See what happens when stupid people use Windows.
Please, friends don’t let friends use Windows.
jumbo shrimp
Microsoft quality/security/innovation
Just another example of that great oxymoron… military intelligence
I read this after viewing with considerable disbelief a new Windows (at least here) sick making advert on TV spouting on about Microsofts belief in security. protecting their customers and their continuing ‘efforts’ to improve it even more in the future. I really don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the shear audacity of this FUD.
I do urge anyone to complain about the untruths and misleading comments inherent in any such Microsoft advert to the relavent advertising authorities.
After this guy or someone like him hacked one of the US Army’s web site (they have many), they switched it to Mac OS X and has been running for a long time now.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05552
These days, they are running OS X, Solaris & Linux. On Netcraft it will ID OS X as FreeBSD.
http://searchdns.netcraft.com/?restriction=site+contains&host=americasarmy.com&lookup=wait..&position=limited