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Press Release
For Immediate Release February 13, 2003 |
U.S. Department of Justice | |||
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Ohio Man Attacked NASA Computer System Shutting Down Email Server | ||||
According to Court documents, between November 5, 2001, and November 14, 2001, Dino A. Amato, while employed as a contract employee with Affiliated Computer Services at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, knowingly and willfully violated NASA regulations by downloading a compressed or 'zipped' computer file called 'ZIP-42' from the Internet, and transmitted said zipped file to an e-mail account on the NASA e-mail server on at least seven different occasions, knowing that the zipped file in question would cause the computer system to drastically slow down or completely stop processing e-mail messages at the Glenn Research Center.
The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 799 (Violating the Rules and Regulations of NASA) is up to 1 year imprisonment, a fine of up to $100,000, or both. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern, following an investigation by NASA's Office of the Inspector General. An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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