History Repeats For Former Hacker

One would think that military institutions in a country of vast resources like the United States would shape up their security in the decade since their computer systems had been breached by a young hacker. But, nope, it’s happened again. What is the defense department up to with our tax dollars, anyway? Mark Ward of BBC News reports:

For most people it must be hard to understand what confessed hacker Gary McKinnon is going through as the US attempts to extradite him to face trial.

But Mathew Bevan can definitely sympathise with Mr. McKinnon because, ten years ago, he was in a very similar position.

As a teenager Mr. Bevan became adept at breaking in to computer networks. At first any system was fair game but he soon started concentrating on those run by US military institutions.

Like Mr. McKinnon he was caught, charged and threatened with extradition for what he had done.

The knowledge he had built up hacking business, university and government computers helped find connections to military systems that he exploited to gain access.

Reading about how Mr. McKinnon got started, Mr. Bevan said he was amazed that security had improved so little between the time he had been exploring US military networks and when Gary McKinnon was hacking.

The same failings let both Mr. Bevan and Mr. McKinnon gain access to supposedly secure systems.

“It just shows that in ten years nothing has changed,” he said.

The only difference is that in the time between the two cases the US government has been spending heavily to beef up computer security.

“Where have the budgetary increases actually been spent?” he asked…

Good question!

[tags]hack,mathew bevan,gary mckinnon,military breach,military spending,inept defense department[/tags]