Case Study 1: The Curious Case of Gary McKinnon
By
Aicha Doudou
CCJS 390
Professor Daniel Draz
University of Maryland University College

Gary McKinnon was a Scottish hacker who hacks into NASA computers to search for evidence of aliens and extraterrestrial technology. He believes the NASA and other US government were hiding something from the public and that they had classified documents about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).
It all started in 2000 when he decided to look for UFO evidence on the U.S. government's computer systems. He began obsessively researching ways to break into the machines. Using the Perl programming language, he wrote a small script that he says allowed him to scan up to 65 000 machines for passwords in under 8 minutes. After dialing up the government systems, he ran the code and made an astonishing discovery: Many federal workers failed to change the default passwords on their computers. On these unsecure machines, McKinnon installed a software program called Remotely Anywhere, which allows remote access and control of computers over the Internet. McKinnon could then browse through the machines at his leisure and transfer or delete files. Because he was able to monitor all activity on the computers, he could log off the moment he saw anyone else logging on.
It is claimed that between February 2001 and March 2002, Gary McKinnon hacked into dozens of US army, navy, air force, and Department of Defense computers, as well as 16 NASA computers. At one point he brought down the U.S. Army's entire Washington, D.C., network, taking about 2000 computers out of service for three days. U.S. attorney Paul McNulty called his operation “the biggest military computer hack of all time.” The Americans allege he altered and deleted files at a US naval air station not long after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. They describe Gary McKinnon’s hacking as “intentional and calculated to influence and affect the US government by intimidation and coercion”. But Gary McKinnon said he is no web vandal, nor virus writer, and he never acted with malicious intent. He just wanted to find the evidence he believes the NASA were hiding about UFO, aliens and extraterrestrial technology. He was convinced those alien technology could save us in the form of a free, clean, pollution-free energy. He thought if the Americans were hiding such a thing, then it was unconstitutional under American law.
Despite his expertise, McKinnon didn’t try to cover his tracks. He even used his own email. He said he wanted to be caught that the obsession was driving him crazy. The UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit arrested him on March 2002 at his flat in Wood Green, north London. He thought he would be tried in the UK, but the Americans wanted him to be extradited to US to face trial. If he was found guilty in the US court he could face up to 70 years in federal prison, but if prosecuted in the UK, he would face 3-4 years jail sentence. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome (a form of autism) in August 2008. McKinnon's lawyers argue that his criminal behavior was a result of his disorder, and they have asked courts to judge him with leniency as a result. The case of Gary McKinnon extradition drags on for 10 years until in May 2010 when Theresa May was appointed the new Home Secretary.
The Home Secretary Theresa May decided against the UFO hacker’s extradition to the US in October 2010 citing that he suffered from depressive illness and is seriously ill. She said the fact that Gary would kill himself if send to the US were a sufficient ground to keep him in the UK. She said that sending Gary to the US is a breached to his human rights, She has also announced her plans to change extradition rules to allow courts to block extradition attempts if it is in the best interest of justice.
Gary McKinnon got his inspiration from The Hacker’s Handbook by Hugo Cornwall. He claim that even without this book he would still have hacked into the NASA because he strongly believe the government should not keep UFO related technology from the public. He claims to have found evidence of UFOs in the NASA system in a book called The Disclosure Project. According to McKinnon this book contains 400 testimonials from everyone who works there. The statements talk about reverse-technology taken from captured or destroyed UFO craft. I don’t know whether to believe this or not. The thing surrounding UFO legends is that those who see believe in it, whereas those who have never come in contact with it doesn’t believe in it.
I think that the Americans effort to have Gary McKinnon extradited to the United States is a way of prosecuting international cyber criminals. I strongly believe that if a cyber criminal in one country commits a crime against another nation, then he/she needs to be extradited to that nation and prosecuted. My reason is because every nation has different law on how to prosecute cyber criminals. Just look at the case of Gary McKinnon if he were prosecuted in the US he would spend up to 70 years in jail, but in the UK he only faces 3-4 years of jail time. After 10 years of legal battle Theresa May decided not to extradite him to the US nor prosecute him in the UK. On second thought, I fear that the government's method of dealing with this situation does not serve in the best interest of national security. These government entities seem to attempt to draw attention away from their security flaws by strongly condemning and prosecuting those who exposed the flaws. Those who have truly malicious intentions will not be deterred by such tactics and will exploit every security flaw they can to reap their havoc and attain their goals. The security of the people and government servers would be better served focusing more effort on securing these systems.
Our network system should be protected at all time to prevent such attacks. The best methods to prevent similar incident from happening include: * Staying on top of changes that could affect the security of your network security. * Properly configure firewalls * Installing anti-virus software and make sure to update regularly or if possible on a daily basis. * Implementing and using password policies. * Installing proper scanning software programs to identify all entry points from the Internet into the internal network of the company. * Performing attack and penetration tests to identify those vulnerable points in the network that can be easily accessed.

References

(2012). Gary McKinnon saved from extradition to the United States; Gary McKinnon was today dramatically saved from extradition to the United States by Theresa May. The Telegraph Online.

Kushner, D. (2011, June 27). The Autistic Hacker. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/internet/the-autistic-hacker/0

Yutani, W. (Ed.). (2013, November 19). An incredible story of a Scottish hacker who hacks NASA computers and claims to have found evidence of alien technology. Retrieved information includes mentions of mysterious "Extraterrestrial Officers". Retrieved October 16, 2014, from http://www.unacknowledged.info/gary-mckinnon-nasa-hack/

'UFO Hacker' Gary McKinnon Tells What He Found. (2013, January 1). Retrieved October 17, 2014, from http://www.cosmostv.org/2013/02/hacker-gary-mckinnon-tells-what-he-found.html