Lab’s 1-Year Search for Hacker Is Futile

BERKELEY — Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory said a hacker gained unauthorized access to scientific and military computers in 1986-87, and they at first thought he must be a student at the nearby University of California.

Lawrence officials detailed their nearly one-year search for the hacker this week after news of his exploits was published in Quick, a West German magazine. Officials said they do not know the hacker’s identity although they believe he is based in Hanover, West Germany.

The hacker was apparently searching for classified information on top-secret topics, such as President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative and the space shuttle.

40 Systems Broken Into

The researchers said he succeeded in breaking into about 40 computer systems, including the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena and U.S. military installations in West Germany and Japan.

Clifford Stoll, a Lawrence research scientist, called the hacker “a competent, patient, plodding person” who spent hours at a time searching through computerized files. He said he could have just been trying to crack the computers as a hobby.

“We never knew the name of the person,” said Leroy Kerth, associate laboratory director for general sciences at the Lawrence lab and one of those on the hacker’s trail.

Student Suspected First

At first, experts thought the hacker was “probably a student on campus” at UC Berkeley, Kerth said. Soon, however, the person began digging for data on top-secret topics, using buzzwords such as “strategic” and “nuclear.”

Officials believe the hacker had confused Lawrence Berkeley Lab--a non-classified research facility operated by UC for the Department of Energy--with nearby Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, which conducts research into top-secret weapons projects.