Nasa hacker loses extradition battle

Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker accused of breaking into US military computers, has lost the latest round of his fight against extradition to the US.

McKinnon, 42, from Wood Green, north London, is accused of sabotaging vital US military systems after the terror attacks of 11 September 2001.

He was hoping to avoid extradition by reaching a deal to have him tried in the UK but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) rejected the request.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos said: "There is a danger that McKinnon is being used as a whipping-boy by a country embarrassed about the poor security of its computers in the months after September 11."

"Of course, a clear message has to be sent out to hackers that their activities are unacceptable. But there is clearly a difference between financially-motivated cybercriminals and enthusiastic amateurs like McKinnon doing it for kicks," Cluley added.