Supporters of Gary McKinnon on the internet campaigned for him not
to be extradited.
IT security and control firm Sophos is warning cybercriminals of
the severe consequences of hacking, following the European Court of
Human Rights' decision earlier this morning that Gary McKinnon will
be extradited to the US to face trial on charges of breaking into
and damaging US Government Computers.
The so-called 'NASA hacker' from North London, will be
extradited to the US to face trial for his cybercrimes within two
weeks, following the final decision made by the European courts.
Today's verdict comes six and a half years after McKinnon was
originally arrested and follows an initial ruling by the British
Home Secretary in 2006 that McKinnon should be extradited to the
United States, and two subsequent rulings in favour of extradition
by the UK Court of Appeal and the House of Lords.
"The US authorities will be rubbing its hands together in glee
at the news that they are finally going to get their hands on
McKinnon. They have sent a clear message that they are set on
hunting down anyone who attempts to breach their computer systems,
and compromise their data. Gary McKinnon is now facing the
uncomfortable prospect of an American trial," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant at Sophos said on his
blog. "McKinnon has had tremendous support from the hacker
community and even ordinary
people throughout the duration of his trials, but this decision
will still hit hard even after the many years of appeals. The
message is clear - if you hack into computers you have to realise
that the legal consequences could be severe. Others should take
note of McKinnon's predicament and ask themselves: do I want to end
up in his situation? I'd imagine the answer across the board would
be a resounding 'no'."
McKinnon, a self-confessed computer enthusiast, was arrested six
and a half years ago after allegedly hacking into computers
belonging to the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, Department of
Defense and NASA. He claims to have broken into these networks only
to uncover confidential information about anti-gravity propulsion
systems and extraterrestrial technology which he believed the
authorities were hiding from the public. He has led a high profile
campaign to avoid extradition, supported by many other computer
hackers.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.