IP: Bill Gates Targeted By Hacker

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 09:16:39 -0400
>From: "Gerald Ballman" <ballman@gwmail.usna.edu>
>To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>
>VIAGRA-SALE CYBERPRANK AROUSES GATES' FURY
>Saturday,April 7,2001
>By ANDY SOLTIS
>
>
>A young British hacker obtained Bill Gates' credit card number and used it to
>order Viagra sent to the software czar in an effort to show how vulnerable
>the Internet is, it was reported. Raphael Gray, 19, was arrested by FBI
>agents and British police in his Welsh hometown of Clynderwen and will be
>sentenced for unlawful hacking later this month, The Sun of London reported.
>Gray said he sent Microsoft an e-mail, warning it that cybercrooks can obtain
>the credit card details of people who shop online. When Microsoft showed no
>interest, Gray, then 17, decided to "do something that might grab their
>attention." He said he broke into customer databases of dot-com firms and
>found Gates' credit card number in one of them. Gray ordered the male potency
>drug sent to Gates at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters. "I wanted to
>prove a point," The Sun quoted him as saying. "I sent Bill a lot of Viagra
>and I was disappointed not to get a thank you note for demonstrating the
>insecurity of the site." Gray also posted the credit card number of Gates and
>23,000 other people on his own Web site. Gray was questioned for 14 hours and
>ultimately agreed to a plea bargain.
>
>
>
>



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