Thursday, July 31, 2008

We Need Flex Mentallo to Square the Pentagon

Suspect in "biggest military hack" loses extradition case - David Chartier @ Ars Technica

I first caught the news of this last night while watching BBC America's news hour and naturally had the same questions several computer analysts and McKinnon's own lawyer were asking: how was a single man with a home computer and dial-up modem able to hack his way into the U.S. military's computers? Seriously, it's hard to imagine that the Pentagon and associated agencies left their computer networks open to suck an easy hack. But McKinnon did it and I think we should applaud him for his efforts versus locking him up. If Captain Anal Probe, looking for evidence of UFOs on military networks, was able to break into those networks then the DoD needs this public slap in the face. They left their networks so vulnerable that a loon could walk on in. McKinnon deserves a slap on the wrists at most.