I was hunting UFOs, says Pentagon's UK hacker
To the United States, he is a seriously dangerous man who put the nation's security at risk by committing "the biggest military computer hack of all time".
But Briton Gary McKinnon says he is just an ordinary computer nerd who wanted to find out whether aliens and UFOs exist.
During his two-year quest, McKinnon broke into computers at the Pentagon, NASA and the Johnson Space Centre as well as systems used by the U.S. army, navy and air force.
U.S. officials claim he caused $700,000 (388,000 pounds) worth of damage and even crippled vital defence systems shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
The unemployed computer programmer is now battling extradition to the United States, where, if found guilty, he faces up to 70 years in jail and fines of up to $1.75 million. His lawyer fears he could even be sent to Guantanamo Bay.
It's all a far cry from how he first got into hacking, watching a film about a teenage boy who breaks into a military central computer and almost starts World War Three.
"I had seen the film 'War Games' and I do remember clearly thinking at the time, that's amazing -- a great big military computer system and a young, spotty teenager," the softly spoken 39-year-old told Reuters in an interview.
The Hacker's Handbook
In the mid-1990s as Internet technology took off, McKinnon, armed with information gleaned from the book, "The Hacker's Handbook", began infiltrating British university systems.
Then during 2000-1 from his home in Hornsey, and using a computer with just a limited 56K dial-up modem, he turned his sights on the American government and military.
He insists his intention was not to cause damage.
"My main thing was wanting to find out about UFOs and suppressed technology. I wanted to use computer security tools to find out stuff the government wouldn't tell you about."
Surprisingly, he found it was easy despite being only a rank amateur who "couldn't even programme at the time".
Using the hacking name "Solo", he discovered that many U.S. top-security systems were using an insecure Microsoft Windows programme and had no password protection at all.
"So I got commercially available off-the-shelf software and used them to scan large military networks ... anything I thought might have possible links to UFO information," he said.
Aliens do exist
So do aliens exist? Yes, according to McKinnon.
He said he came across a group called the "Disclosure Project", which had expert testimonies from senior figures who said technology obtained from extra-terrestrials did exist.
He said one NASA scientist reported that the Johnson Space Centre had a facility where UFOs were airbrushed out of high-resolution satellite images. So, he broke in to see for himself.
"I saw what I'm convinced was some kind of satellite or spacecraft but it was manufactured by no means I have ever seen before -- there were no rivets, no seams, it was like one flawless piece of material. And that was above the Earth."
However, his probing came to an end in March 2002, when police arrested him. It was almost a relief.
"I was completely obsessed. I was completely addicted. It was like a huge game but I was getting very paranoid," he said.
McKinnon's story might sound like the plot of a movie, but the charges he faces after being indicted by a U.S. grand jury, are deadly serious.
He argues he is being made a scapegoat by U.S. authorities to deter other would-be hackers rather than address their own security flaws. His supporters include some MPs who back his fight to change the UK-U.S. extradition treaty
"I know that once I'm over there, I don't care what anyone says, it's not a reasonable democracy," he said.
"I'm already being treated as a terrorist. I appear in an official American army pamphlet ... in a guide to combating terrorism in the 21st century."
The next stage of his legal battle takes place on May 10 at Bow Street Magistrates Court. But he hints that whatever happens, he has a lot more to tell.
"I can't talk about a lot of stuff that I found. It's just not the right time," he said with a smile.
Reproduced from an article published by Reuters
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