Man charged with hacking related to alleged intrusions at Cisco and NASA

Philip Gabriel Pettersson aka “Stakkato”, a 21-old Swedish national, was indicted on intrusion and trade secret theft charges. The five-count indictment includes one intrusion count and two trade secret misappropriation counts involving Cisco.

According to the allegations in the indictment Pettersson intentionally committed an intrusion between May 12, 2004, and May 13, 2004, into the computer system and network of Cisco. During the alleged intrusion some Cisco Internetwork Operating System code was allegedly misappropriated.

The indictment also charges two intrusion counts involving NASA, including computers at the Ames Research Center and the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division, located at Moffett Field, Calif. The indictment alleges Pettersson committed these intrusions on May 19, 2004, May 20, 2004 and Oct. 22, 2004.

Cisco and NASA cooperated in the government’s investigation. Following the incident, Cisco reported that it did not believe that any customer information, partner information or financial systems were affected. The Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with the Swedish authorities on the case.

An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt. The maximum penalty foreach charge of intrusion and theft of trade secrets is 10 years in prison, a three year term of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.