Hacker makes legal history

16 December 2003

BRUSSELS – An Eupen man made Belgian judicial history Monday when he became the first person to be charged with Information Technology crime.

Andre Britz, an IT fanatic and founder of a small internet services company, was accused of penetrating into a competitor’s server illegally under a law created in 2000.

Belgium’s IT crime law stipulates a penal sentence of three months to one year for those accessing IT systems illegally.

Britz attempted to hack into the Euregio.net server by entering 60 passwords per second over several days, with 4,184 attempts during the night of the 4th to the 5th of January, 3,966 the next day and a further 9,432 one week later.

The hacker was quickly located by police and charged. Britz received a fine of EUR 5,600 for damages and avoided a penal sentence.

Subject: Belgian news