Gary McKinnon profile: Curiosity and an open door led to ‘the biggest military hack ever’

Published on 17/10/2012 02:09

Gary McKinnon’s talent for hacking led to him being accused of leaving US military computer systems unusable immediately after the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001.

The 46-year-old’s supporters say he acted through “naivety” as a result of Asperger’s syndrome, and should not be considered a criminal. But US prosecutor Paul McNulty said he used the codename Solo to commit the “biggest military hack of all time”.

Born in Glasgow in February 1966, McKinnon has been developing software since he was given an Atari 400 at the age of 14 and used it to create graphics and write programs. From the bedroom of his girlfriend’s aunt’s house in north London, he hacked into 97 American military computers at the Pentagon and Nasa between 2001 and 2002.

He was caught in 2002, as he tried to download a grainy black-and-white photo he believed was of an alien spacecraft, from a Nasa computer housed in the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

McKinnon never denied entering the networks of a wide number of US military institutions. But maintains he was motivated by curiosity and only managed to get in because of lax security.

But US authorities say he stole passwords and deleted files at Earle naval weapons station in New Jersey, and . left 300 computers at a US navy weapons station unusable straight after the 9/11 attacks.