Interview of a Hacker "Jesse William Mcgraw, aka Ghost Exodus"
Who's Jesse William McGraw?
Jesse William McGraw, a former contract security guard at the North Central Medical Plaza on North Central Expressway in Dallas, who admitted hacking into that hospital's computer systems.
Jesse McGraw
In May 2010, McGraw, a/k/a "Ghost Exodus," 26, of Arlington, Texas, pleaded guilty without a plea agreement to an indictment charging two counts of transmitting a malicious code. He has been in custody since his arrest in June 2009.
During his 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift at the North Central Medical Plaza, McGraw gained physical access to more than 14 computers, including a nurses' station computer on the fifth floor and a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) computer located in a locked room. The nurses' station computer was used to track a patient's progress through the Carrell Memorial Clinic and medical staff also used it to reference patients' personal identifiers, billing records, and medical history. The HVAC computer was used to control the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning for the first and second floors used by the North Central Surgery Center.
McGraw installed or transmitted a program to the computers that he accessed that allowed him, or anyone with his account name and password, to remotely access the computers. He also impaired the integrity of some of the computer systems by removing security features, e.g., uninstalling anti-virus programs, which made the computer systems and related network more vulnerable to attack. He also installed malicious codes (sometimes called"bots") on most of the computers. Bots are usually associated with theft of data from the compromised computer, using the compromised computer in denial of service attacks (DDoS), and using the computer to send spam. McGraw knew his actions would damage the security and integrity of the computers and computer systems. McGraw was the self-proclaimed leader of a hacking organization called the "Electronik Tribulation Army" (ETA). He advocated compromising computers and computer systems in instructions that he posted online for members of the ETA and other individuals interested in engaging in computer frauds and participating in DDoS attacks.
In this case, McGraw admitted that he intended to use the bots and the compromised computers to launch DDoS attacks on the websites of rival hacker groups. ETA's rival hacker groups included "Anonymous," the hacker group currently claiming responsibility for attacks against PayPal and others in support of Wikileaks.
Interview
Q How did you feel after the feds caught you?
A. At the initial arrest it was very confusing, yet I had a premonition that this day would come. For which crime? I could count hundreds, but it wasn't something I wanted to write home and brag about, Ultimately I had to face the fact that my masquerade was over. I had been defeated. But this defeat became a victory for me because I needed as way to stop what I was doing, essentially, unplug and start my life over again.
Q. Tell me about your life in federal prison.
A. This is no life, its like I have been trapped inside of a time capsule since 2009 and it wont open until 2017. Prison has a very violent and dangerous culture. Only the strongest survive, if you have ever wanted to truly know just how corrupt the American government and its prison industry is, this is it. These people who run the prison I am warehoused at would rather see me die than ever see to it that I can invoke my fundamental human rights. It is entirely sadistic what Americans do to other Americans when placed in a position of absolute power.
Q. Why did you do such a crime? Or what someone else behind this?
A. First off, it was not a hospital, it was a clinic that practices sports medicine. Nobody could have died from what I actually did. Second, the legal terminology or definition for “transmitting a malicious code” is broad, I was never convicted for installing a botnet on the clinics HVAC, Malicious code can mean virus, but in general it means “a program, code, or command which has the ability to damage or impair the integrity of a protected computer system”
The whole truth of my case is practically a conspiracy theory, which I expound about from start to finish in my autobiography, due sometime in 2013. The evidence in my case file is not open to the public record per se. If the infosec community were to scrutinize the HVAC page file, disk image, or the logmein logs, heads would roll.
Jesse William McGraw, a former contract security guard at the North Central Medical Plaza on North Central Expressway in Dallas, who admitted hacking into that hospital's computer systems.
Jesse McGraw
In May 2010, McGraw, a/k/a "Ghost Exodus," 26, of Arlington, Texas, pleaded guilty without a plea agreement to an indictment charging two counts of transmitting a malicious code. He has been in custody since his arrest in June 2009.
During his 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift at the North Central Medical Plaza, McGraw gained physical access to more than 14 computers, including a nurses' station computer on the fifth floor and a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) computer located in a locked room. The nurses' station computer was used to track a patient's progress through the Carrell Memorial Clinic and medical staff also used it to reference patients' personal identifiers, billing records, and medical history. The HVAC computer was used to control the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning for the first and second floors used by the North Central Surgery Center.
McGraw installed or transmitted a program to the computers that he accessed that allowed him, or anyone with his account name and password, to remotely access the computers. He also impaired the integrity of some of the computer systems by removing security features, e.g., uninstalling anti-virus programs, which made the computer systems and related network more vulnerable to attack. He also installed malicious codes (sometimes called"bots") on most of the computers. Bots are usually associated with theft of data from the compromised computer, using the compromised computer in denial of service attacks (DDoS), and using the computer to send spam. McGraw knew his actions would damage the security and integrity of the computers and computer systems. McGraw was the self-proclaimed leader of a hacking organization called the "Electronik Tribulation Army" (ETA). He advocated compromising computers and computer systems in instructions that he posted online for members of the ETA and other individuals interested in engaging in computer frauds and participating in DDoS attacks.
In this case, McGraw admitted that he intended to use the bots and the compromised computers to launch DDoS attacks on the websites of rival hacker groups. ETA's rival hacker groups included "Anonymous," the hacker group currently claiming responsibility for attacks against PayPal and others in support of Wikileaks.
Interview
Q How did you feel after the feds caught you?
A. At the initial arrest it was very confusing, yet I had a premonition that this day would come. For which crime? I could count hundreds, but it wasn't something I wanted to write home and brag about, Ultimately I had to face the fact that my masquerade was over. I had been defeated. But this defeat became a victory for me because I needed as way to stop what I was doing, essentially, unplug and start my life over again.
Q. Tell me about your life in federal prison.
A. This is no life, its like I have been trapped inside of a time capsule since 2009 and it wont open until 2017. Prison has a very violent and dangerous culture. Only the strongest survive, if you have ever wanted to truly know just how corrupt the American government and its prison industry is, this is it. These people who run the prison I am warehoused at would rather see me die than ever see to it that I can invoke my fundamental human rights. It is entirely sadistic what Americans do to other Americans when placed in a position of absolute power.
Q. Why did you do such a crime? Or what someone else behind this?
A. First off, it was not a hospital, it was a clinic that practices sports medicine. Nobody could have died from what I actually did. Second, the legal terminology or definition for “transmitting a malicious code” is broad, I was never convicted for installing a botnet on the clinics HVAC, Malicious code can mean virus, but in general it means “a program, code, or command which has the ability to damage or impair the integrity of a protected computer system”
The whole truth of my case is practically a conspiracy theory, which I expound about from start to finish in my autobiography, due sometime in 2013. The evidence in my case file is not open to the public record per se. If the infosec community were to scrutinize the HVAC page file, disk image, or the logmein logs, heads would roll.
TAGS :
COMMENTS