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HACKER GROUP LEADER ARRESTED FOR BREAKING INTO NASA COMPUTERS

MARY JO WHITE, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RAYMOND TORRICELLI, a/k/a "rolex," the head of a hacker group known as "#conflict," was arrested today at his home in New Rochelle, New York, for allegedly breaking into two computers owned and maintained by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory ("JPL"), located in Pasadena, California, and using one of those computers to host an Internet chat-room devoted to hacking.

According to the five-count Complaint unsealed today, TORRICELLI gained unauthorized access to the NASA computers from his personal computer, located at his home in New Rochelle, New York.  In addition, according to the Complaint, TORRICELLI used other computers to which he had illegally gained access to send unsolicited advertisements over the Internet to large numbers of computer users (a practice known as "spamming"), which promoted a pornographic website, as well as to intercept passwords and usernames traversing the networks of computers owned and maintained by Georgia Southern University and San Jose State University.  The Complaint also alleges that TORRICELLI stole password files from other computers, and used his computer to decrypt those passwords.

According to the Complaint, TORRICELLI, operating from his residence in New Rochelle, used his personal computer to gain unauthorized access to a computer used by NASA to perform satellite design and mission analysis concerning future space missions, as well as a computer used by JPL's Communications Ground Systems Section as an e-mail and internal web server.  After gaining this unauthorized access, TORRICELLI installed a program on the first computer which enabled him, under his alias "rolex," to engage in chat-room discussions with other members in "#conflict."

As described in the Complaint, data recovered from TORRICELLI's personal computer at his home included transcripts of chat-room discussions in which TORRICELLI and members of "#conflict" discuss, among other things, (1) breaking into other computers (a practice known as "hacking"); (2) obtaining credit card numbers belonging to other persons and using those numbers to make unauthorized purchases (a practice known as "carding"); and (3) using their computers to electronically alter the results of the annual MTV Movie Awards.

According to the Complaint, after gaining unauthorized access to the second NASA computer, TORRICELLI installed a "sniffer" program on it.  "Sniffers" are programs which enable a person to intercept usernames and passwords as they traverse a computer network.   Passwords and usernames recovered from TORRICELLI's computer included passwords and usernames from computers owned by San Jose State University and Georgia Southern University, according to the Complaint.  Additionally, over 76,000 discrete passwords were found on TORRICELLI's personal computer.  As charged in the Complaint, many of these passwords had been allegedly decrypted by TORRICELLI using a decryption program known as "John-the-Ripper."  According to the Complaint, hackers frequently use stolen passwords and usernames to gain free Internet access, or gain unauthorized access to still more computers.  TORRICELLI allegedly used his computer to gain unauthorized access to a total over 800 computers, according to the Complaint.

TORRICELLI also used computers to which he illegally gained access to earn money "spamming" for a pornographic website, it was charged.  The Complaint alleges that TORRICELLI earned approximately $300-$400 per week from this spamming.

TORRICELLI was presented today before United States Magistrate Judge MARK D. FOX in White Plains federal court, who released the defendant on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond and set the next hearing in the case for Friday, August 11, 2000.

If convicted, TORRICELLI faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine each on the credit card fraud and password possession charges; 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the password interception charge; and 1 year in prison and a $100,000 fine on each of the two charges involving his unauthorized access of the two NASA computers.

Ms. WHITE praised the investigative efforts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Computer Crimes Division; the New Rochelle, New York, Police Department; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The investigation is continuing.

Ms. WHITE stated:  "The Internet is no safe haven for criminals.  As this case demonstrates, hackers who use the Internet to commit credit card fraud, steal private passwords and usernames, and gain access to restricted Government computers, thereby damaging those computers, are not harmless pranksters -- they are criminals, and will be dealt with vigorously."

TORRICELLI, 20, lives in the New Rochelle, New York.

Assistant United States Attorney JOSEPH V. De MARCO is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
 

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