NASA nabs computer hacker

WASHINGTON - A Delaware teen-ager is under investigation for hacking his way into a NASA Internet site, agency officials
say. 

NASA Inspector General Robert Gross cited the most recent example of a computer invasion of a NASA Web site as an
example of how the space agency has become "vulnerable via the Internet." 

"We live in an information environment vastly different than 20 years ago," Gross said Monday in a written statement. "Hackers
are increasing in number and in frequency of attack." 

In the latest case, the Delaware teen, whose name, age and hometown were not released, altered the Internet Web site for the
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., according to the statement from the computer crimes division of NASA's
Inspector General Office. 

"We own you. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive," the teen's message said, adding that the
government systems administrators who manage the site were "extremely stupid." 

The message also encouraged sympathizers of Kevin Mitnick, a notorious computer hacker, to respond to the site. Mitnick
was indicted last year on charges stemming from a multimillion-dollar crime wave in cyberspace. 

The altered message was noticed by the computer security team in Huntsville. 

The NASA statement called the teen's hacking "a cracking spree" and said it was stopped May 26 when his personal
computer was seized. 

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware and Alabama are handling the case with NASA's computer crimes
division. 

By The Associated Press