- A London schoolboy who hacked into computers at a top-secret
weapons laboratory in the United States sparked a nuclear panic, a court
heard today.
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- Joseph McElroy, 18, forced scientists to shut down the
weapons installation for three days after he used a sophisticated programme
to break into 17 computers at the US Department of Energy's Fermi Nuclear
Laboratory.
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- The DOE, responsible for the safety of America's nuclear
weapons, tracked McElroy to his family home in Woodford Green and informed
Scotland Yard.
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- McElroy, now a first-year student at Exeter University,
admitted he used the computer system - but only to get free online videos
and music.
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- He pleaded guilty to "unauthorised modification"
of the contents of a computer and returns for sentence in three weeks.
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- Sean Larkin, prosecuting, told Bow Street Magistrates'
Court how the attack sparked a full-scale alert at the laboratory.
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- Mr Larkin said: " Initially the United States took
this matter very seriously because of the nature of the laboratory and
the fact it deals with nuclear weapons."
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- But he added: "He did not hack into the classified
section and there was no danger or risk to public safety at all."
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- http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/7475280?source=Evening%20Standard
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