Mathew Bevan (born 10 June 1974) is a British

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

from

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. In 1996 he was arrested for hacking into secure U.S. Government networks under the handle Kuji. At the age of 21, he hacked into the files of the

Griffiss Air Force Base Griffiss Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force installation in the northeastern United States, located in Central New York state at Rome, about northwest of Utica. Missions included fighter interceptors, electronic research, ...

Research Laboratory in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Intent on proving a UFO Conspiracy Theory; his sole tool was a

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

with a

blue box A blue box is an electronic device that produces tones used to generate the in-band signaling tones formerly used within the North American long-distance telephone network to send line status and called number information over voice circuits. ...

program called Roxbox. He was one of two hackers said to have nearly started a third world war. according to Supervisory Special Agent Jim Christy, at the time working for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations

Background

Bullied by his peers, Bevan had a difficult time with school and turned to the online world at night for an escape. Having been told ways to negate the phone system, he could call anywhere in the world without charges appearing on his bill. Bevan began to lead a double-life, a normal school life during the day followed by his now well-publicized nocturnal activities. On 21 June 1996 he was arrested in connection with hacking incidents relating to several sensitive

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

, and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

establishments. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

had already misinterpreted the situation and branded Bevan's pseudonym

Kuji is a Japanese city in Iwate Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 34,418 in 15,675 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kuji is in far northeastern Iwate Prefect ...

as a "Foreign Agent, possibly of Eastern European origin". A U.S. Air Force investigator summed up the risks and concerns brought about by their hacking, how Bevan's alleged partner Richard Pryce (''Datastream Cowboy''), then 16 years old, hacked his way into a research facility in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

, and dumped the contents of the Korean Atomic Research Institute's database on the USAF system. The concern was that if

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

noticed, they would think the transfer of data was an intrusion by the U.S. Air Force, and threaten physical retaliation for the espionage; fortunately it turned out to be

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n data, significantly less volatile. At Woolwich Crown Court, Friday 21 November 1997 some 18 months later, the CPS decided that it was no longer in the public interest to pursue the case. They offered 'no evidence' which resulted in a full

acquittal In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

being recorded. He used to live in Devizes, Wiltshire. Bevan has commented on the

Gary McKinnon Gary McKinnon (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who was accused in 2002 of perpetrating the "biggest military computer hack of all time", although McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evid ...

case as being very similar to his own.

References

External links

Kuji Media Corporation (archive of news stories relating to case)

* ttp://www.kujimedia.com/?page_id=14 Lengthy interview citing history of the case along with tv spots {{DEFAULTSORT:Bevan, Matthew British computer criminals 1974 births Living people People from Cardiff Hacking (computer security)