"Consultant" indicted in hacking

A Texas grand jury indicted a Houston man on two counts of computer fraud this week after the self-styled computer consultant allegedly broke into the Harris County Clerk office's wireless network to demonstrate its insecurity to a reporter and the office's system administrator. It is the first known indictment against a person for wireless hacking.

The indictment handed down on Wednesday claims that Stefan Puffer accessed the system on March 8 and did knowingly transmit a program, information, code and command that caused a loss of at least $5,000. If convicted of the charges, Puffer faces up to 10 years in prison without parole, and a fine of up to $500,000.