Hacker gets jail time for ISP break-ins

A computer hacker was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for compromising the systems of several regional Internet service providers, Harvard University and Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Sean Trifero, 21, of Middletown, Rhode Island, also will be required to do five hours a week of community service in the three years following his release. But a judge rejected a call that Trifero be banned from the Internet.

Federal prosecutor Jeanne Kempthone is seeking a restitution judgment of $US73,993. A hearing will be held January 28. Trifero, who led the nationwide group called the Virii, argued that their primary activity was testing computer security, not making malicious attacks.

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