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1995-03-03
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2KB
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45 lines
"How the net closed on hacker suspect"
Crime: Computer network let invader roam - and do some damage - to let
investigators close in.
By John Markoff
The New York Times
San Francisco - In his final weeks of freedom, Kevin D. hacker who was
captured by the FBI early Wednesday morning in Raleigh, N.C., had been putting
severe strains on the WELL, a small network used by mainly by and eclectic
group of about 11,000 computer users in the Bay area, investigators say. And
just a few hours before his arrest, they say, he delivered a last electronic
blow that nearly destroyed the WELL and the electronic community it served.
Mitnick, investigators say, had wormed his way into the WELL's central
computers at least several weeks earlier and had been reading the electronic
mail its subscribers and using WELL accounts as camouflage for attacks across
the Internet.
After the attacks were discovered Jan. 28, WELL officials, with some
misgivings, had been allowing Mitnick to come and go so that investigators
could monitor his activities, the executive said. But early Wednesday, as
federal agents closed in on Mitnick 3,000 miles away, he logged in to the
WELL's computers in Sausalito, and erased all the accounting records for the
online service, WELL officials said.
It was a moment of decision at the WELL. Its operators had to decide
whether it was time to opt for self-preservation - and risk alerting Mitnick
that he was being watched - by immediately shutting down the system. But the
WELL had no way to reach the FBI team, which was preparing to arrest Mitnick
and had shut off its cellular telephones for fear of alerting him.
They shut down the system. Experts say crises like the one at the WELL
are almost certain to continue plaguing cyberspace. The break-ins demostrated
more clearly than ever how a persistent vandal can threaten the privacy and
security of the Internet and the millions of computers connected to it.
Tsutomu Shimomura, the 30-year-old cybersleuth who assisted in the
Mitnick investigation, said Thursday that the most important principle is that
people not approach the Internet with naive expectations.
bugsy `toe'