Teens arrested for hacking NASA
   -------------------------------
   July 13, 2000
   Web posted at: 6:35 AM EDT (1035 GMT)

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Two New Yorkers, one of them a 15-year-old high
   school student on Long Island, have been arrested and accused of
   hacking into NASA computers. It was unknown whether the cases were
   linked.

   The teen surrendered to police Tuesday for allegedly hacking into two
   NASA computers in Hampton, Virginia, and a third computer in Bethpage,
   New York.

   Raymond Torricelli, 20, of New Rochelle was arrested Wednesday at his
   home and charged with using his personal computer to break into two
   computers belonging to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
   California. The lab is the lead center for exploration of space with
   robotic spacecraft, have launched missions to every planet in the
   solar system except Pluto.

   The teen-ager allegedly broke into the NASA computers in November. The
   youth, charged with computer tampering, was released into his father's
   custody. His name was not released by Suffolk County police.

   The Rocky Point teen allegedly defaced the NASA Web site by adding the
   message "SSH is coming." Suffolk police said he used the hacker
   acronym "Sesame Street Haxorz."

   Police said the youth replaced system files with various images they
   termed computer graffiti, including an image of Elmo, a character on
   the "Sesame Street" television program.

   Though he did not gain access to sensitive or classified information,
   the teen caused about $5,000 in damage, said Special Agent James
   Jackson, of the NASA Office of the Inspector General.

   Police said they were investigating whether the teen, who said he was
   being tutored by another hacker online, committed any other crimes,
   Newsday reported Thursday.

   In the Torricelli case, investigators said they found 76,000 passwords
   on Torricelli's computer, including usernames from computers owned by
   San Jose State University and Georgia Southern University.

   Prosecutors said in court papers that Torricelli installed a program
   on a computer used by NASA to perform satellite design and mission
   analysis concerning future space missions. He then allegedly used the
   program in chat-room discussions with other hackers.

   Mary Beth Murrill, a spokeswoman for the Pasadena lab, declined to
   comment on the case but said security has since been improved.

   "We have a computer security system like any other large organization
   but we don't discuss it," she said.

   Torricelli was released on $50,000 bail. If convicted of the most
   serious charge, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.