Texas teen hacker admits to stealing millions FORT WORTH - A Texas teenager admits using his computer to steal millions. In Dallas federal court Wednesday, the hacker admitted to breaking into computers worldwide. In one attack, hackers replaced the US Armys main web page with their own message: Global hell is alive. Global hell will not die. Patrick W. Gregory, 19, is now admitting his group was behind that, and a lot more.

On the computer, he called himself Most Hated: A leader of groups known as Global Hell and Total kaOs (total chaos). Hes not talking now, but in court, Gregory just pleaded guilty, admitting he and other hackers plotted a series of high-profile Internet attacks on the U-S Army, the White House, and others.

Obviously theyre capable of doing great damage to businesses, to people, to governments. Their name says it all: Global Hell. Total Chaos. In large part, thats what they were about.

Prosecutors say they held their own long-distance conference calls with stolen codes from phone companies, plotting which websites to hack next, and sometimes, posting peoples credit card numbers on the Internet. If they want to bring you down, one of the ways they can do it is to steal your sensitive information and put it on the Net. Thats what theyd do if they had a real grudge against somebody. Hackers, if theyre very skillful and are dedicated to this, could conceivably take down a business, could conceivably take down a government. It was calculated. It was intended to damage, it was intended to hurt reputations. It was theft and beyond. All I can say to you is what I typically say, part of his deal is he will cooperate with the government.

Gregory has accepted a plea bargain and is now on the governments side, agreeing to testify against his one-time computer cohorts. Still, Gregory could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Prosecutors arent saying how many other hackers might be charged, only that the FBI investigation is continuing.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 13, 2000