Mitnick 2.0 (Heckenkamp Edition)

Jerome Heckenkamp, accused hacker of ebay, Lycos, Exodus communications, and Juniper Networks and Cygnus Support Solutions, has finally been released on bail. Jerome apparently suffered 7 months in a holding cell because he refused to use an attorney, and instead insisted on defending himself. After those seven months Mr. Heckenkamp decided it might be wiser to get an attorney, after which he was immediately released on bail of 50,000. Now partially free, Mr. Heckenkamp is forced to wear a GPS tracking device, is allowed a brief 90 minutes out of his house a day(for exercise), and is awaiting trial in a related San Diego case that currently has no trial date set.

While some may think Jerome Heckenkamp is another Mitnick, being held indefinitely for innocent electronic trespasses. I disagree, the government in this case didn’t violate any constitutional rights, and according to the below Register article he brought this pain on himself. So why are their “Free Heckenkamp” sites popping up? One site I do agree with is http://www.leto.net/sk8.html, the site looks at the average profile of a web cracker, or web site defacer. According to that same story Mr. Heckenkamp is a Scholar and a person of extreme intelligence (which apparently wasn’t enough to get him off) and his profile does not fit with some one who would randomly deface websites.

Links:
The Register “Accused eBay hacker out on bond”
Freesk8.org “Free Jerome Heckenkamp”
Security Focus “Accused Ebay Hacker to Defend Himself From Jail”
Packet Storm “hackersdigest“
Leto.net
News.com “Alleged eBay hacker dismisses lawyer”
JSonline “Hacking suspect was kept at lab despite probe“