[ISN] Gossip lands Education hacker in jail

[InfoSec News]

http://www.fcw.com/article94547-05-17-06-Web

By Michael Arnone
May 17, 2006 

An Education Department auditor who hacked his boss' computer and told 
his co-workers about it will spend five months in jail, Justice 
Department officials said. 

Kenneth Kwak, formerly an information technology systems auditor at 
Education's Office of the Inspector General, pleaded guilty in March 
to one count of intentionally gaining unauthorized access to a 
government computer and extracting information from it, Justice 
spokesman Drew Wade said. 

Kwak admitted he installed software on his supervisor's computer that 
gave him access to his boss' e-mail messages and Internet activity, 
Wade said. Kwak then shared the information with his co-workers. 

He was prosecuted under the U.S. Attorney's Office's new 
zero-tolerance policy for breaking into federal computer systems, 
Justice officials said. 

Once Kwak has served his time, he will spend another five months 
confined to his home with his movements electronically monitored, 
Justice officials said. 

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered Kwak to pay $40,000 in 
restitution to the federal government and spend three years under 
supervised release, including the five months at home, Wade said. 

The Computer Crime Investigation Division of Education's Office of the 
IG conducted the investigation, Justice officials said. Attorneys from 
the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of Justice's 
Criminal Division prosecuted the case.

"This unfortunate incident demonstrates that accountability applies to 
everyone," said John Higgins Jr., Education's IG. "We will continue to 
work with department and law enforcement officials to ensure the 
integrity of the department's computer systems."