Burns, Eric - technical definition

In 1999, a grand jury in Virginia indicted Eric Burns, then aged 19 years, on three counts of computer intrusion. Burns’ moniker on the Internet was “Zyklon” and he was thought to be a group member of the gang claiming responsibility for attacks on the White House and Senate Websites. Burns was accused of cracking not only a computer used by the U.S. Information Agency between the period of August 1998 and January 1999 but also two other computers—one owned by LaserNet in Virginia and the other owned by Issue Dynamics, Inc. in Washington. A woman named Crystal, who was the cyberstalking target and classmate of Zyklon, identified Eric Burns as Zyklon to the FBI. That, along with a tip from an Internet informant, took FBI agents to an apartment building where Eric lived with his mother. Though the FBI did not arrest Eric the morning they raided his apartment, they seized a cache of evidence and his computer. The judge hearing the case ruled that Burns should serve 15 months in federal prison, pay $36,240 in restitution, and not be allowed to touch a computer for three years after his prison release.

See Also: Computer; Cyberstalkers and Cyberstalking; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).