[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] Master hacker 'Analyzer' held in Israel
From:       jericho () dimensional ! com
Date:       1998-03-27 9:20:55
[Download RAW message or body]


                                                     
  Master hacker 'Analyzer' held in Israel
                                                       
 Allegedly led February assault on U.S. military sites
  
 March 18, 1998
 Web posted at: 10:27 p.m. EST (0327 GMT)
     
 JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The master hacker who calls himself "The Analyzer" --
and who is suspected of helping two California teen-agers penetrate
hundreds of military and university computer sites in the United States
last month -- has been detained in Israel, U.S. and Israeli officials said
Wednesday. 
     
Israeli police spokeswoman Linda Menuchin said the 18-year-old suspect and
two alleged accomplices were arrested Wednesday, in part based on
information supplied by American authorities. 
     
U.S. Justice Department officials in Washington identified the ringleader
as Ehud Tenebaum, an Israeli citizen, and said he has been charged with
illegally accessing hundreds of computer systems. 
     
"(The) arrest should send a message to would-be computer hackers all over
the world that the United States will treat computer intrusions as serious
crimes," said U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. "We will work around the
world, and in the depths of cyberspace, to investigate and prosecute those
who attack computer networks." 
     
 Trio may have hacked Knesset system
  
The suspects were questioned for several hours at a police station in Bat
Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv, then put under house arrest, Menuchin said.
Police confiscated their passports and forbade contact between them. 
     
Under Israeli law, they must appear before a judge within 24 hours or be released.
     
"They are all cooperating with the police," Menuchin said. She said their
parents had been brought to the station. 
    
The trio is also suspected of hacking into computer systems in Israel.
Israel's Channel 2 television reported that one of those systems belonged
to the Knesset, Israel's parliament. 
     
 NASA, MIT targets of February hack
  
In what one U.S. Defense Department official called "the most organized
and systematic attack the Pentagon has seen to date," the Analyzer and two
California teens apparently penetrated as many as 200 computer systems in
February. 
     
Targets included NASA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the
Naval Undersea Warfare Center. The intrusion was aimed at systems
containing unclassified information, rather than sensitive sites. 
     
Still, the FBI launched a hunt for the hackers responsible. Through an
Internet service provider, agents were able to track down two teens in
Cloverdale, California, and raided their houses February 25. 
     
Experts from the service provider, Sonic, traced the Analyzer to Israel. 
     
Someone purporting to be the Analyzer took over the Web site of another
Internet service provider, NextDex, to defend the teens. Analyzer
supporters have also threatened retaliation if the FBI cracked down on
those responsible for the Pentagon penetration. 
     
In an interview with AntiOnline, an online magazine that deals with
Internet security issues, one of the teens, nicknamed "Makaveli," gave
this explanation for what he and his cohorts had done: 
     
"It's power, dude. You know, power," he said.
     
 Analyzer said he was retiring
  
The Analyzer also gave an interview to AntiOnline in which he boasted that
he knew the way into 400 Defense Department computer systems. 
     
He said he began hacking as a challenge and concentrated on U.S.
government sites because "I hate organizations." 
     
Though he mused in his interview that "chaos" was a "nice idea," the
Analyzer claimed that his intrusions were actually innocent and that he
even helped targets by "patching" weaknesses in their systems to prevent
future intrusions. 
     
He admitted teaching other hackers how to target U.S. military systems. 
     
"Since I was going to retire, I was going to teach someone of my knowledge
and guide him," the Analyzer said. 
     
Justice Department Correspondent Pierre Thomas and Reuters contributed to
this report. 
     
   

-o-
Subscribe: mail majordomo@sekurity.org with "subscribe isn".
Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]