Security News > 2006 > February > Teen hacker fined for server attack

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/teen-hacker-fined-for-server-attack/2006/02/13/1139679536471.html By Steve Butcher February 14, 2006 HE WAS the only Australian member of a small international computer hacking team - a Melbourne teenager nicknamed Susboy - and he craved kudos. But 19-year-old Stephen Sussich's need to impress his six secret colleagues in Team Simplicity ended when four carloads of police arrived at his family home in Essendon. The ramifications of the dawn raid, which horrified his unsuspecting parents and woke the neighbours, killed Sussich's curiosity for computer hacking. The fallout continued yesterday in Melbourne Magistrates Court when Sussich was convicted and fined $2000 and ordered to pay $3000 compensation to the firm whose server he attacked. Judy McGillivray, prosecuting, told the court that routine maintenance last August of Brisbane-based company Webcentral revealed scanning tools linked to a person with the username mssql. Through another company, Webcentral had server links to 46,000 credit card holders. Ms McGillivray said investigations found mssql had illegally put a "rootkit" - an "intruder's toolkit" - on the server, which can hide its presence, stop access and close windows behind it. When the Australian Federal Police High-Tech Crime Centre in Canberra examined the server, numerous references to Susboy were found. Ms McGillivray said there was no evidence Sussich accessed any credit card details or was financially motivated. Sussich, of Jacka Street, Essendon, pleaded guilty to two charges of unauthorised modification of data to cause impairment. Defence lawyer Peter Randles said Sussich was a "normal, decent young guy" with great computer skills and a talent for breaching security systems. But Mr Randles said curiosity had got the better of Sussich. The police raid last September had "killed his illegal curiosity" and he urged magistrate Lisa Hannan not to convict him. Ms Hannan said while Sussich had shown remorse, his offences undermined community confidence in e-commerce. _________________________________ InfoSec News v2.0 - Coming Soon! http://www.infosecnews.org

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http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/teen-hacker-fined-for-server-attack/2006/02/13/1139679536471.html