Alleged NASA hacker to speak at security show

Gary McKinnon, the British man fighting extradition to the U.S., is planning to appear on a panel discussing hacking at a U.K. security conference, it was revealed on Thursday. McKinnon is charged with gaining unauthorised access to 97 US government computers, including machines belonging to NASA and the US Department of Defense. He claims he was searching for evidence of UFOs.

The panel will take place at Infosecurity Europe on April 27 in London. McKinnon will be joined on the panel by Robert Schifreen, who was acquitted of charges connected with a break-in of a BT network and accessing an account belonging to the Duke of Edinburgh. Also appearing on the panel will be security expert Bob Ayers, who had a 29-year career with the U.S. Department of Defense, where he served as chief of the Intelligence Information System Computer Security Program for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London. Click here for the full story.

[rshew]

These guys should be awarded

Finding exploitable gaps in security is of tremendous importance to the government agencies involved and all of those of us who are affected by their security or lack thereof. Far better that a kid in the US or hacker in the UK finds a hole which can be fixed than someone working for a hostile country or agency.

[NeilKelty]

Exactly

I agree with you. Do not punish these people put them on the government payroll, its better to have an honest person hacking into the system than someone who is trying to use it to their advantage. If he wasn't even trying and got in imagine what someone who was could do!

[thetarget]

yup

make good use of him by making smart use of him :D