Andre Yoskowitz
26 Dec 2009 21:07
Francis "Frank" Janosko, a Massachusetts prison inmate, has been given an extra 18-month sentence for hacking a prison computer while he was in jail. The computer had been provided to inmates to help them with legal research for appeals.
Janosko hacked the system and stole personal data on 1100 prison employees, including Social Security Numbers and home addresses.
ComputerWorld explains that the PC used was a "thin client computer that simply connected to another machine on the network and did not store any data itself. The only program it was supposed to run was the prison's legal research application."
Prosecutors say the inmate "exploited an idiosyncrasy in the legal research software" which allowed him to access other programs as well as send emails and even download videos.