, SecurityFocus 2003-09-05
FBI agents armed with a federal arrest warrant out of New York were searching for Adrian Lamo Thursday, SecurityFocus has confirmed.
Lamo has been charged in New York under Title 18 U.S.C. 1030 and 1029, according to deputy federal public defender Mary French, who says she's spoken with one of the FBI agents that were searching for Lamo. The federal laws prohibit unauthorized access to a protected computer, and illegal possession of stolen "access devices" -- a term that encompasses passwords, credit card numbers, and the like. French did not know what the specific allegations were, because the charging document is sealed. Two agents visited the home of Lamo's parents, Mario and Mary Lamo, near Sacramento, California, Thursday afternoon, Mary Lamo said Thursday. "They wouldn't tell us anything but that they had an arrest warrant and they wanted to come in," she adds. When she demurred, the agents vowed to return with a search warrant, then began overtly watching the house from parked cars, she said. "They followed me when I went out, so they're not hiding it." Friday morning, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office in New York confirmed that the office had an open case file on Lamo, but otherwise declined to comment. Lamo frequently stays at his parents' home, but he was not there at the time of the FBI's visit, and has not returned since. His mother contacted the Federal Public Defender's office in Sacramento, which has agreed to handle his surrender. "If he's arrested or turns himself in in this district, we will represent him for the initial proceedings," French said Friday morning. "I haven't had any direct contact with him yet." In a telephone interview Thursday, Lamo said he was in California, but did not plan to turn himself in until after conferring with the attorney. The hacker was quick-witted and seemingly in good humor, with only a trace of nervousness in his voice. He quipped about the proper etiquette of being arrested by the FBI, and suggested jokingly that SecurityFocus should purchase the publication rights to a favorite photo. He said he was in the company of a camera crew producing a television documentary on hackers. "I have always said that actions have consequences, and this is something that I was always aware might happen," said Lamo. "I don't intend to deny anything that I have done, but I do intend to defend myself vigorously." The 22-year-old Lamo has become famous for publicly exposing gaping security holes at large corporations, then voluntarily helping the companies fix the vulnerabilities he exploited -- sometimes visiting their offices or signing non-disclosure agreements in the process. Until now, his cooperation and transparency have kept him from being prosecuted. Lamo's hacked Excite@Home, Yahoo, Blogger, and other companies, usually using nothing more than an ordinary Web browser. Some companies have even professed gratitude for his efforts: In December, 2001, Lamo was praised by communications giant WorldCom after he discovered, then helped close, security holes in their intranet that threatened to expose the private networks of Bank of America, CitiCorp, JP Morgan, and others. Lamo believes the arrest warrant is for his most high-profile hack. Early last year he penetrated the New York Times, after a two-minute scan turned up seven misconfigured proxy servers acting as doorways between the public Internet and the Times private intranet, making the latter accessible to anyone capable of properly configuring their Web browser. | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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