HACKERS' OFF HOOK, PROPERTY RETURNED
By Danna Dykstra Coy
This article appeared in the Telegram-Tribune Newspaper, San Luis Obispo, CA.
April 12, 1991. Permission to electronically reproduce this article was given
by the newspaper's senior editor.
*****
Two San Luis Obispo men suspected of computer tampering will not be charged
from their homes, according to Stephen Brown, a deputy district attorney who
modem with no criminal intent," said Brown. San Luis Obispo police were
a case.
The officer heading the case, Gary Nemeth, admitted police were learning as
they went along because they rarely deal with computer crimes. Brown said he
legitimate concern."
containing patient billing records in their San Luis Obispo office kept
their modem, a device that allows computers to communicate through the
telephone lines. The technician told the doctors it appeared someone was
trying to tap into their system. The computer's security system caused the
computer, telephone, and computer manuals. Hopson could not reached Thursday
for comment.
Brown's investigation revealed Hopson, like the other suspects, was trying to
log-on to a computerized "bulletin-board" that incorrectly gave the doctors'
number as the key to a system called "Cygnus XI". Cygnus XI enabled computer
users to electronically send messages to one another. Brown said while this
may not be the county's first computer crime, it was the first time the
District Attorney's Office authorized search warrants in a case of suspected
computer fraud using telephone lines. Police will not be returning several
llegally obtained copies of software also seized during the raids, he said.
###
Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
