Web Security News

British NASA hacker gets new hearing on extradition

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Justices for the UK High Court have agreed to hear on July 14th an application for a judicial review of the extradition of British national Gary McKinnon, who has confessed to hacking the networks of the U.S. military and NASA, according to ZDNet UK.

Attorneys for McKinnon have been fighting his extradition to the U.S., saying that sending McKinnon to the U.S. to face trial could result in him committing suicide because of his mental illness.

McKinnon, the 42-year-old man who U.S. authorities say compromised the network security of the Army, Air Force, Navy and NASA and caused close to $1 million in damages, was diagnosed last August with Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism.

His attorney, family and supporters say he should be tried in the UK and contend his diagnosis was not properly considered by the former UK home secretary who ordered his extradition in October.

The National Autistic Society, a UK advocacy group, has petitioned the British government to keep McKinnon in the UK, based on his condition.

He could face up to 70 years in prison in the U.S. if found guilty. McKinnon reportedly said he was searching high-security networks for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

ADNFCR-1765-ID-19225634-ADNFCR

Related News:

Mac OS X malware game Lose-Lose deletes files - 11.5.2009
A graduate student has written a game for Mac OS X that resembles the classic video game Space Invaders, but Mac users should not download the game if they don't want to have it randomly delete files.

Adobe issues critical security update for Shockwave Player - 11.5.2009
Adobe Systems yesterday released a critical update for all versions of Shockwave Player and recommends that users upgrade to version 11.5.2.602 to protect against cyber attacks exploiting the vulnerability.

Microsoft Security Essentials detects malware that kills Windows XP - 11.5.2009
A new Trojan malware detected by Microsoft Security Essentials as Win32/Daonol steals credential information and redirects web traffic, Microsoft said on its malware protection blog.

FBI warns of malware targeting corporate bank accounts - 11.4.2009
A new report from the FBI cyber crime division said hackers have attempted theft of $100 million from online bank accounts, using sophisticated malware that steals bank account passwords.

Microsoft issues Internet Explorer security update - 11.3.2009
Microsoft on Monday issued a security bulletin that updates a previous patch for Internet Explorer to resolve two issues. The IE bug only affects users who already applied the earlier patch.

View Related Resources
Or
Watch an Online Demo
Or
Have us call you now