A student at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) was charged last week with breaking into a U.S. Defence Department communication system and maliciously tampering with sensitive information. He was using only a portable home computer and a telephone according to a spokesman from the L.A. district attorney's office.

The district attorney's complaint listed 16 separate charges brought against UCLA sophomore Ronald M. Austin, 14 of which were felony counts of maliciously gaining access to a computer system. If convicted, Austin could face up to six years in prison.

Accomplices

According to the attorney's office, there were two accomplices in the crime, including another UCLA student. Kevin Lee Poulson.

Poulson was not charged, and investigators only know the third member by his computer code name. "Kar."

Al Albergate, a spokesman for the D.A.'s office, said yesterday that the most serious of the offenses committed by Austin included changing the passwords of important research programs which blocked legitimate users, and also setting up phony programs in the Defense Department system.

No Prank

"We're not treating this as just a prank because the disruption that he has caused will cost the owners of the system hundreds of thousands of dollars in reprogramming and security measures," added Albergate.

The D.A. spokesman alleged that Austin gained access to the system--which links government and private computers throughout the United States and Europe--by using a simple home computer.

After breaking into the UCLA computer system, Austin was able to find the password to the "Advanced Research projects Agency Network" which holds accounts only for authorized UCLA scientists doing research for government agencies, including the Defence Department, he added.

Tom Tugened, a UCLA spokesman said Austin a physics major, had never taken a computer science course at UCLA, but excelled in mathematics and probably had a good deal of computer experience in high school.

War Games

"It sounds to me that he [Austin] has somewhat the same syndrome as the guy in 'War Games'. He was challenged with the idea to see how far he could get and he got too far." Tugend told the campus newspaper, the UCLA Daily Bruin.

According to the Bruin, the UCLA computer system stores important data on medical records which have been tampered with in the past. But Austin apparently didn't delete or change any information on these records.

"They're just trying to make an example of him [Austin]. He could've really messed up medical records but he didn't. He just wanted to make some money." said a UCLA sensor Nancy Cutler.

According to the district attorney's report, Austin allegedly used his illegal access into computer systems in order to obtain plane tickets which he sold to other students. Four stolen airline ticket were found in Austin's room made out to people in his neighborhood along with $800 in hundred-dollar bills. However, investigators had no evidence to prove that the stolen tickets had a connection with the computer scheme.

Austin, who is out on bail, could not be reached for comment. He will have a preliminary bearing at a municipal court on December 7.