A Massachusetts teenager, the first juvenile to face federal hacking charges, will plead guilty to having crippled an airport control tower and other electronic mischief.
The boy, whose identity was not released in charges that were unsealed Wednesday, broke into a Bell Atlantic computer system on 10 March 1997, causing a system crash that knocked out power and disrupted communication between aircraft and the Worcester Airport control tower for six hours. No accidents resulted, but the hacking knocked out phone service to 600 nearby houses.
If a judge accepts the plea bargain, the boy will get two years' probation, a fine, and community service. He will also be banned from using a computer with a modem for two years. Already, he has been required to forfeit all of the computer equipment used during his criminal activity, which also included hacking into a pharmacy computer and copying patient records.
"These are not pranks. This is not like throwing spitballs at your teacher," US Attorney Donald Stern said. "Hackers should know that they will be caught and they will be prosecuted."
