Hacking and related crimes.

The term `hacker' is widely used to describe a malicious intruder who tries to discover sensitive information by accessing secure systems. Often called a "password hacker", "network hacker," The correct term is actually cracker.

Both federal and state law enforcement agencies have increased funding for the investigation and prosecution of computer crimes that involve so-called hacking. Prosecution of these cases is often difficult because of the computer expertise needed to uncover these crimes. Once discovered however, the penalties for a hacker under federal (usually wire fraud and computer fraud) and state law are quite severe. The penalties include prison as well as significant fines.

Often these cases will involve ongoing investigations. We can work with the investigator to head off prosecution and indictment. If needed we can defend the case employing expert witnesses. Our experts will challenge the evidence and reliability of the investigators techniques as well as the accuracy of their results- results which are often difficult to verify using independent means.

Additional defenses may be of use: such as challenging the amount of alleged damages which are often uncertain and difficult to prove. We use economists experienced in business damage analysis to disprove the damage estimates of the prosecution. In most cases hackers do not use the illegal access for profit and damages are inflated and exaggerated by the government- as in high profile cases such as Mitnick's. By showing that the damages are small or insubstantial with our experts we can avoid indictment or alternatively obtain reduced sentencing under the federal guidelines. (The federal guidelines increase penalties based on the amount of monetary harm.)

For example in the Mitnick case the government claimed the companies: Motorola, Fujitsu, Nokia, Sun, Novell, and NEC (that Mitinick had obtained source code to cell phone software through his hacking) had losses that amounted to $80 million dollars.

However, under the corporations 12-G filings (required under SEC regulations), these companies failed to report any such losses. Since these companies are required to report "material losses" to their stockholders and to the SEC, this failure to report any material loss either violated federal law or alternatively called into question the amount of the claimed losses.

Other useful information:

hacker defined:

1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.

2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.

3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.

4. A person who is good at programming quickly.

5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in "a Unix hacker".

(Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)

6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.

7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

8. (Deprecated) A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence "password hacker", "network hacker". The correct term is cracker.

9. (University of Maryland, rare) A programmer who does not understand proper programming techniques and principles and doesn't have a Computer Science degree. Someone who just bangs on the keyboard until something happens. For example, "This program is nothing but spaghetti code. It must have been written by a hacker".

It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. Thus while it is gratifying to be called a hacker, false claimants to the title are quickly labeled as "bogus" or a "wannabee".

The following definition of "hacker" is from the The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, edited and maintained by Denis Howe. The Dictionary is fairly thorough, and contains encyclopedia-like entries on computing terms as well as many useful cross-references and pointers to related resources elsewhere on the Internet. This dictionary is Copyright Denis Howe 1993, 1998.

Hacking | Credit card fraud | Cracking & Computer network break-ins | Software piracy | Child pornography | Virus dissemination |

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