📸

BREAKING AND ENTERING

You won't believe how I got in Marlyn . . . Hahahahahahahahahahahahhaaaa.

Yours hackingly Alan Dolby . . . The Mad Hacker!!!

The Mad Hacker The Mad Hacker Alan Dolby Alan Dolby . . . No JNL!!

Though the Mad Hacker had destroyed the journal when he hacked into QMC that night he didn't destroy the evidence. In common with most computer users QMC keeps back-up copies of files, so the record of the Mad Hacker's intrusions still existed. But it was becoming evident that eventually real damage to the system could be caused if the hacking continued. It was already becoming frustrating to Bob, who was spending more and more time cleaning up after the Mad Hacker and less time doing his real work. More seriously, Scotland Yard was becoming concerned about hints that Alan Dolby was hacking into the Ministry of Defence computer, also an ICL. It might still be a game to the Mad Hacker, but it was becoming deadly serious to everyone else.

It was decided to go for a bust that very evening.

An arrest for computer hacking is not a straightforward affair. To make a charge stick the police had to arrest the Mad Hacker with the dial-up actually on his computer screen. Evidence that the hacking was committed from his phone number was not sufficient: it could, after all, be his mother who was the hacker.

The team assembled for the bust was enormous. There were four policemen from the Computer Crime Unit, two technical support specialists, two experts from ICL, a police photographer, two British Telecom engineers and a phalanx of uniformed policemen – including one policewoman to deal with possible hysterics from the mother. In addition Jones had to watch the computer to alert the team when the Mad Hacker broke in. He was joined in his vigil by the managers at other ICL sites on the JANET network as well as by internal BT staff to monitor the phone lines. In total the team numbered forty people.

As luck would have it, on the evening of 5 July nothing happened. The Mad Hacker simply went to bed early.

The next night, 6 July, the Mad Hacker decided to dial into QMC

📸