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NT govt hacker acted from spite, court told

Date: October 08, 2008
Source: ABC.net.au


Last May, the man allegedly hacked into the Territory government's computer network and systematically shut parts of it down.

The Royal Darwin Hospital, Parliament House, the Supreme Court, Berrimah Prison and more than 10,000 public servants were affected, and a specialist crisis team needed to be brought from interstate to repair the damage.

The government employees had their details and passwords deleted, and found themselves locked out of their computers.

The man has been charged with 13 counts of computer related offences.

The court was today told that a month before the incident, the man resigned from an IT company which looked after the government's computer network.

Prosecutor David Brustman alleged the man used a former work colleague's log-in and password to access the government system and create the chaos.

"[The colleague] was profoundly and majestically duped," he told the court.

"It was an act of spite and vengeance because of his dissatisfaction with his employer or the world at large."

Mr Brustman said IT experts were able to rapidly trace the source of the hacking back to the man's Palmerston house.

A computer security consultant said he analysed computer records and was able to establish the hacking of the government system originated from a desktop computer and laptop that were seized from the house.
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