Information Security News: Student faces hacking charges

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk () c4i org>

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Apr/19/bz/bz03a.html

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
April 19, 2003

A 22-year-old Pennsylvania man is facing federal charges for allegedly 
hacking into a computer site owned by a Hawai'i company, taking 
control of the site and costing the company about $8,400 to fix the 
problem.

According to a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court, Jason 
Starr, a business-college student in Erie, Pa., was able to enter a 
computer server belonging to Ohananet, a Hawai'i corporation with an 
Internet site.

Starr was able to manipulate the site for about a year following his 
unauthorized entry in August 2000 and the damages incurred by the 
company included the costs for time spent by Ohananet workers 
identifying and solving the problem as well as obtaining a new server 
and transferring the data, according to court documents.

Edward Kubo, U.S. attorney for Hawai'i, said the charges allege that 
Starr used a computer at Erie Business College to enter Ohananet's 
server, which is located in Missouri, without permission.

Starr then took control of the server and changed the account 
password, the charges allege.

Starr is also accused of obtaining information about "PayPal" online 
payment accounts maintained by Ohananet's president and attempting to 
gain unauthorized access to those accounts.

Ohananet maintained a Hawai'i-themed site on the Internet, offering 
customers free e-mail and Hawai'i-related merchandise for sale. The 
company leased a computer server in Missouri to provide the services. 
Its customers were located throughout the country.

If convicted, Starr faces up to a year in prison and a fine of up to 
$100,000.

The case was investigated by the Cyber Crime Squad of the FBI's 
Honolulu office and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney 
Larry Tong.


 
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