Teen Admits Small Hacking

By Sushuma March 5, 2000 10:26 AM

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(AP)-A polite 17-year-old who says he dropped out of school because he was bored admitted Friday he hacked into several Web sites, including one of a leading computer security company.?But Dennis F.?Moran, who used the screen name ''Coolio,'' denied responsibility for well-publicized attacks last month on major electronic-commerce companies.?Sites including Yahoo! and Amazon.com were put out of business for hours by a barrage of messages sent to them all at once.?Moran said some friends started a rumor in an Internet chat room that he was responsible for those attacks and he jokingly took credit for them.?Unbeknownst to the youths, a security expert from Stanford University was listening in and sent logs to the FBI, Moran said in an interview at his home Friday morning.?''He didn't realize I was joking,'' Moran said.?Moran said the FBI interviewed him twice about two weeks ago.?''At the end, it seemed to me they realized I'm innocent, but I'm not sure,'' he said.?Last month, Justice Department officials identified "Coolio" as one of three hackers, known only by their monikers, sought for questioning in the string of attacks on popular Web sites.?But federal investigators believe the boy is only one of a number of people who have used "Coolio" - the name of a popular rapper - as a screen name.?More...

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