Lamo, aged 22, hacked into systems, advised the company of its
security flaws and, in some cases, helped to fix them, a strategy
that may have won the praise of some – notably troubled telco
WorldCom – but upset many others.
It was Lamo's high profile hack last year of the New York Times'
intranet, giving him access to the personal details of staff,
customers and contributors, that provoked the arrest warrant.
Lamo negotiated through his lawyer with the FBI during the five
days of the manhunt. The media-savvy hacker also kept the press
informed, telling SecurityFocus in a telephone interview, "I don't
intend to deny anything that I have done, but I do intend to defend
myself vigorously."
In another telephone interview, with CNet News.com on Monday night,
he revealed, "The only reason that I hadn't come in before now was
lack of communication". He added, "Communication has been good
today and as such there's no compelling reason not to go in... I
want to come in as a show of good faith."
Lamo turned himself over to US Marshalls at 9.30 yesterday
morning. In terms of the deal reached with the authorities he will
be released on bail, and will then travel to New York to face
federal charges relating to computer trespass on the New York Times
intranet.
