SEM News'Homeless hacker' pleads guilty
2004-01-12
The so-called 'homeless hacker' Adrian Lamo has pleaded guilty to charges that he broke into The New York Times' internal computer network.
Admitting to hacking into The Times network in February 2002 and viewing personal information on 3,000 individuals from a database, the hacker also acknowledged setting up user accounts which he used for more than 3,000 searches over a three month period.
With damages said to be 'in excess of $5,000', Mr Lamo had gained notoriety way before hacking The New York Times, when he admitted to hacking high profile companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft and WorldCom.
It was during an interview with a computer security news website that he confessed, prompting an internal investigation by The Times which uncovered evidence of his activities.
Mr Lamo has been released on bail, required to live at home with his parents and will have limited access to computers until his sentence in April.