A former University of Akron student will spend more than two years in a federal prison after using computers at the University to cripple other web sites, steal credit card information, and completely shut down the University’s computer network.
Mitchell L. Frost, 23, of Bellevue, Ohio was also ordered to pay restitution of $10,000 to the University and an additional $40,000 to Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly for an attack on his website.
Court documents reveal that while a student at the University of Akron, between August 2006 and March 2007, Frost manipulated computers to, “launch cyber-attacks against numerous computer systems and websites.”
His activities came to the attention of a University of Akron network engineer. According to court documents, when Frost was questioned about his computer activity he first, “denied any knowledge of the activities and indicated he was working for the FBI.”
University Police next involved the Secret Service and continued to monitor Frost’s computer activity, noting in court documents, “computer logs clearly reflected that (Frost) was involved in the programming and distribution of malicious computer code, attacking and compromising remote computer systems.”
Prosecutors say Frost was bragging in computer chat sessions about attacks he had launched against the internet websites of O’Reilly and Ann Coulter and then presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.
Full story: Former Akron student sentenced for hack that shut down O’Reilly website