Posted by Newsroom on February 24, 1997 at 12:06:00:
In Reply to: Re: you say you want a revolution posted by Felipe Rodriquez on February 20, 1997 at 11:46:07:
Teen hackers in Croatia break Pentagon codes
ZAGREB (Feb 19, 1997 08:12 a.m. EST) -
Three teenage computer hackers in Croatia broke
Pentagon protection codes and copied highly classified files from
United States military bases, local
media and school officials said on Wednesday.
While surfing the Internet on their home computer, the three high
school students applied a search program and deciphered
codes, barging into the database of several U.S. military
installations, the Zagreb daily Vecernji List said.
The databases included those of the Anderson nuclear
installation and an unnamed satellite research centre, it
said.
The break-in left a trace on the Internet which was tracked
down by the Pentagon, reports said.
The U.S. Defense Department contacted Croatian police
through Interpol demanding an investigation while local
police searched the youngsters' flats and confiscated their
computer equipment, local media said.
The damage caused by the teenagers' destruction of high-profile
protection programs could reach half a million dollars,
Vecernji List said.
Computer-hacking is not illegal in Croatia.
The three teenagers attend a school in the Adriatic port of
Zadar specialising in mathematics and science.
Principal Zdravko Curko said the three had no criminal
intent and their "success" was a compliment to their
education.
"This is a case of extensive curiosity which had undesired
consequences," Curko told Reuters by telephone. "They
are excellent students, in love with mathematics and
computer science -- they are fanatics in a positive sense
of the term."
But Curko said the hackers' parents were concerned that
they might be sued for damages.