Romanian charged with hacking U.S. government computers (Navy, NASA)

[rainbow4321]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/16137103.htm

A Romanian man was indicted on charges that he hacked into more than 150 government computers used by the Navy, Department of Energy and NASA.

Victor Faur, 26, of Arad, Romania, cost the government $1.5 million in losses by computers over a two-year period that ended last month, according to the indictment issued Thursday by a federal grand jury here.

The compromised computers were used to collect, store and analyze scientific data - including data from spacecraft in orbit and deep space - and to evaluate new technologies. The machines were located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.; and U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.

After the hacking, scientists and engineers had to manually communicate with spacecraft and the computer systems had to be rebuilt.

[aquart]

1. Romanians lived under an insane dictator for decades.

As a consequence, they have no respect for any authority whatsoever. At least, none of the ones I've met. Authoritarian rule breeds shenanigans.

[fladonkey]

2. This is true....

and my family comes from Cluj, Romania.