In March 2002, the whole world learned that the US military network was subjected to numerous hacker attacks. All newspapers and TV reported that a hacker named Solo had hacked into hundreds of military computers. Nobody knew then the name of the "unrecognized genius" that disabled computers of the most impregnable and protected department. They started talking about Gary McKinnon when the United States charged the guy with a life sentence.
How did it all start?
Gary was charged that, using the name Solo, intentionally for 13 months, from February 2001 to March 2002, hacked hundreds of military computers.
McKinnon did not admit that he caused the system to malfunction. He said that he could possibly disable one computer by his actions. But until official evidence is presented, he will not agree with this charge.
U.S. authorities said that Gary McKinnon is a hacker who understates his abilities. A senior Pentagon military officer said they suffered serious damage as a result of his actions. He confidently stated that this was not a harmless incident, but an organized attack on US computer systems. His actions are equivalent to terrorism.
What was he accused of?
The US military claims that it inflicted damage in the amount of $ 800, 000 (550 thousand pounds) and left 300 computers unusable immediately after the September 11 attack.
He was accused of using his computer skills to access 53 US Army servers, including those used for national defense and security. And 26 U.S. Navy computers, including the NWS Earle, which is responsible for replenishing ammunition and supplies for Atlantic fleet. “Hacking 16 NASA computers and one US Department of Defense computer, ” he was also charged with. Gary McKinnon allegedly stole 950 passwords and deleted NWS Earle files in New Jersey.
Mark Summers, a spokesman for the US government, told a London court that McKinnon’s hack was “deliberate and designed to influence and influence the US government by bullying and coercion.”
For the first time, Gary McKinnon-British hacker was arrested on March 19, 2002 and questioned. In August of the same year, he was heard by the British Security Committee. In November, the Virginia Federal Court indicted seven crimes, each of which had a potential ten-year sentence. In total, he was facing 70 years in prison.
What really happened?
Between 1999 and 2002, McKinnon broke into the safest computer systems in the world from his apartment in London. Using the Perl computer language and a cheap PC, Gary looked for computers in the US database that were not password protected. “I could scan 65, 000 cars in less than nine minutes, ” he says.
Gary discovered unprotected systems controlled by the US Army, Navy, Pentagon and NASA. McKinnon, who describes himself as a “clumsy computer nerd, ” used his computer experience to hack. "Because the US does not disclose full information about aliens, " says Gary McKinnon.
Mackinnon Biography and Family
Gary's parents have known each other since childhood. They lived in the largest city in Scotland - Glasgow. At the age of fifteen, Janice, the mother of computer genius, realized that she had hopelessly fallen in love with Charlie Mackinnon. He was the most caring and kind of all the people she had ever known. A big fan of Elvis, he himself sang beautifully. Charlie performed in pubs. Janice worked in a store.
They bought their first apartment when she was fifteen. They decided to get married right after Janice's sixteen. In Scotland, early marriage is prohibited. The minister of the church, where they turned to legalize their relationship, called Janice's parents to find out if they knew that their daughter was getting married. Parents said that they knew her young man well. Charlie is a great guy and they are not against marriage. So the young got married.
A year later, in 1966, Gary was born. Janice was then 17 years old. When she found out that she was expecting a baby, her worldview of a very young girl immediately changed. She really wanted children. But when she walked in the park and saw how young mothers walk there with three or even four babies, she firmly decided that she would have one child.
Gary was five years old when her parents divorced. Charlie was a wonderful father, says Jane. Probably the reason for the breakup of the family was that many early marriages were doomed to this. When Gary was six, Janice met Wilson. In 1972, the family moved to London. They are both musicians, and there were more opportunities for a career here. In 1974, Janice and Wilson got married.
But Gary really missed his father. Charlie eventually came to London to work. Gary was happy. Charlie met his second wife in London. He has three sons and a daughter. But Gary has always been an important part of his life. He has a great relationship with his father, brothers and sister.
Gary's childhood
Gary McKinnon was born a strong, healthy baby. But he didn’t want to eat. Janice was very worried about this. Then everything worked out. At 10 months, the baby independently rose in the crib, looked at his parents and clearly said: "Dad, mom." From that moment, he very quickly began to learn to speak.
Gary graduated from primary school in London. He studied reluctantly, as he was bored. He learned to read early, at 3 years old. He also attended Dunard Street School in Glasgow. He felt that he did not fit into the new school, and preferred the company of adults. He loved spending time at home. Perhaps complexed due to its Scottish accent. But Janice noticed that her son had communication problems. Therefore, they did everything possible for their part, so that the child did not become isolated in himself.
Gary loved music, but was not seriously interested in playing any of the musical instruments. When he was seven years old, Jane and Wilson, stepfather, recorded the song. Gary in the other room “quarreled” with the piano. Suddenly, wonderful classical music was heard. Parents looked into the room and saw Gary enthusiastically playing the piano. They were delighted, found a music teacher and bought a white piano for their son.
Gary McKinnon sings beautifully, he played in the band Kids & Co, which had to be abandoned due to his inability to adapt and follow the instructions of his mentors.
At Christmas, parents bought Gary the first computer. He was simply fascinated by him, stayed behind him for days on end. Then he was 14 years old. While most teenagers used a computer to play, he created graphics and wrote programs.
Then, after watching the 1983 War Games movie in which a nerd hacker breaks into the Pentagon's computer network, Gary McKinnon began looking for evidence of his other passion, UFOs. Although Gary himself claims to be inspired by Hugo Cornwell’s book The Hacker's Handbook.
How did the UFO craze come about?
Wilson (Janice’s second husband) lived in Bonnbridge, which is one of ten places where UFOs are most often observed. And Gary showed great interest in this.
In the late 1990s, Gary McKinnon joined the online community of experts on UFO Disclosure Project. They collected more than 200 testimonies, some of which belong to people who served in the U.S. armed forces. All of them confirm that aliens exist.
“It was not just an interest in little green men and flying saucers, ” says McKinnon. “I believe that there are spaceships that the public does not know about.”
McKinnon's search for UFO materials on US computers has turned into an obsession.
What did this lead to?
It would seem that such a banal simple reason as the search for UFOs led to unpredictable consequences. For ten years, Gary McKinnon has become an undesirable focus for Anglo-American diplomatic relations.
Paul J. McNulty, then US attorney in Virginia, announced that Harry had been indicted by the Federal Court in Alexandria, Virginia. And at the same time he warned that the United States intended to demand his extradition.
Two years later, the US government filed a request for extradition to Gary, and on June 7, 2005 he was arrested. Extradition to the United States seemed inevitable. And Gary said he would kill himself in order to counter the unfair accusation.
And the great battle of the mother for her only son began. Janice Sharp spent the next ten years in a relentless battle so as not to extradite Gary. The US judiciary has the power of the greatest power in the world. But she did not resist the struggle of the mother for her son.
In October 2012, Janice finally won. It was an impressive victory. The story of Gary McKinnon is also the real story of the struggle of a mother who wants to save her son from life behind bars.
Legal battle
We offer a sequence of events:
- 2002, March: Gary McKinnon (photo above) is arrested by British police.
- 2002, October: Gary indicted in Virginia and New Jersey US for seven counts of computer crime.
- 2005: US authorities begin the extradition process.
- 2006 May: Magistrate judges rule that Mr. McKinnon should be extradited.
- 2006, July: Home Secretary John Reid signs the extradition order for Mr. McKinnon to the United States.
- 2007, April: The High Court in London dismissed Mr. McKinnon's lawsuit against extradition.
- July 2008: By decision of the Lord Lords, McKinnon may be extradited to the United States.
- 2008, August: The European Court of Human Rights stated that it would not hinder the hacker’s extradition.
- August 2008: Mackinnon was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.
- October 2008: Home Secretary Jacques Smith gives the green light to extradition.
- 2009, February: The Crown Prosecution Service refuses to charge Mr. McKinnon in the UK as an alternative to the US charge.
- October 2009: Home Secretary Alan Johnson said he will look into new medical evidence.
- 2010, May: The coalition is re-elected, and the new Minister of the Interior, Teresa May, promises to take a look at his case again.
- 2011, May: Barack Obama, on a state visit to the UK, said he would “respect” the British legal process.
- July 2012: Gary refuses new medical tests.
- 2012, October: Home Secretary Teresa May said that McKinnon would not be extradited.
- 2012, December: The Crown prosecutor's office announced that McKinnon would not be charged with any crimes.
