Thursday, 19. March 1998

Pentagon Hacker Wins Praise (Analyzer)

Filed at 11:15 a.m. EST

By The Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today
praised an 18-year-old Israeli master hacker accused of having
launched the most organized attack ever on the Pentagon's
computer system.

``Damn good,'' Netanyahu said when asked what he thought of the
hacker, who was put under house arrest Wednesday and had his
computer taken away. ``Very dangerous, too,'' Netanyahu added
quickly.

The suspect, who calls himself ``The Analyzer'' and was
identified by the U.S. Justice Department as Ehud Tenebaum, was
questioned today by a special police anti-hacker unit.

Police Brig. Gen. Elihu Ben-Onn said the suspect was cooperating
with investigators, who don't think he was seeking personal
gain.

``This guy didn't act for what we call criminal motives, only
for his curiosity, his ego, or any other motive -- not for
money,'' Ben-Onn said. ``He's not so proud (now) of what he's
done.''

The Pentagon has said the intrusions appeared to have been aimed
at systems that contained unclassified personnel and payroll
records. A spokesman described the Israeli hacker's work as the
most organized and systematic attack the Pentagon has seen to
date.

``The Analyzer'' and two teens from Cloverdale, Calif.,
apparently penetrated computers in February using a weakness
that already had been identified by computer security teams.

Tenebaum, who lives in the well-to-do Israeli suburb of Hod
Hasharon, was arrested along with two Israeli friends from the
neighborhood, at the request of U.S. officials. He
has not been charged.

``He was not surprised, because the story was already in the
press,'' Ben-Onn said. ``He knew that someday someone would
knock at his door.''

Tenebaum's high school principal described him as a high
achiever at the Mosenson Youth Village school, which has an
advanced curriculum in science, computers and
communications, and its own TV studio.

``We are sorry about what happened,'' said the principal,
Yitzhak Chen. ``On the other hand, he didn't exploit this for a
bad cause.'' Chen said the school would talk to students
about hacking, and explain that it was a serious violation of
the law.


Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company [isn]
18:35 | #

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