A 19-year-old computer hacker with the screen name "Zyklon" pleaded guilty Tuesday to attacks involving Web pages for NATO, Vice President Al Gore, and the United States Information Agency, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors from the US Attorney's Office said Eric Burns of Shoreline, Washington, also admitted in federal court in Virginia that he advised others on how to attack the White House Web site in May.
They said Burns faced a maximum possible punishment of five years in prison, a US$250,000 fine and having to pay restitution. His sentencing was scheduled for 19 November before US District Judge James Cacheris.
Burns acknowledged the computer intrusions had caused damages exceeding $40,000, the prosecutors said.
He also admitted that he had hacked and damaged computers in Washington, Virginia, Washington state, and London.
Prosecutors said Burns designed a program called "Web bandit" to identify computers on the Internet vulnerable to attack. He found that the computer server at Electric Press in Reston, Virginia, was vulnerable and attacked it four times between August 1998 and January 1999, they said.
Electric Press hosted the Web pages for NATO, the vice president, and the USIA.
Prosecutors said the attacks affected embassy and consular Web sites, which depend on the USIA for information. One attack resulted in the closing down of the USIA Web site for eight days.
Prosecutors said Burns also attacked the Web pages of about 80 businesses whose pages were hosted by Laser.Net in Fairfax, Virginia. There were further attacks on the Web pages of two corporate clients of Issue Dynamics in Virginia and Washington, as well as the University of Washington Web page.
Prosecutors said Burns also ranged overseas, hitting an Internet service provider in London.
Burns usually replaced the Web pages with his own, which often made references to "Zyklon" and his love for a woman named "Crystal," they said.
The prosecutors said there was an attempt to replace the White House Web page with one referring to "Zyklon" and "Crystal" in May. The White House was forced to shut down the page for two days and the computer system was reconfigured.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
