Computer Hacker Indicted for Illegally Accessing NASA and Defense Department Computers

On November 12, 2002, Gary McKinnon of London, England, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Alexandria, Virginia, for illegally accessing and causing damage to multiple U.S. Government computer systems. McKinnon, 36, a citizen of the United Kingdom (UK), was apprehended in London by the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit.

Between September 2001 and February 2002, McKinnon allegedly compromised NASA computer systems at Langley Research Center (Hampton, Virginia), Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas), Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, Maryland), Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, Alabama), and Ames Research Center (Moffett Field, California). McKinnon also allegedly compromised nearly 100 computers belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense, local governments, and private sector companies. The investigators traced the intrusions through multiple civilian networks that ultimately led back to the UK.

This indictment is the result of a 17-month cooperative investigation between British authorities, the NASA Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command's Computer Crime Investigative Unit, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the 902nd Military Intelligence Group-Information Warfare Branch, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Stein, Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria, is handling the prosecution.