Teenager cleared of hacking

A British teenager has been cleared of hacking in to the computer systems of one of the US's busiest ports.

Nineteen year-old Aaron Caffrey, from Shaftesbury in Dorset, had been accused of hacking into computer servers at the Port of Houston in Texas from his bedroom.

The prosecution had claimed that Mr Caffrey had bombarded vital navigation systems with thousands of electronic messages, putting ships navigating in and out of the harbour at risk.

The court was told that Mr Caffrey had staged the attack to take revenge on a female internet chatroom user following an argument.

However, Caffrey claimed that an unidentified third party had broken into his computer, altered system files and launched an attack without his knowledge.

But security experts for the prosecution told the court that Caffrey's computer showed no evidence that its files had been altered or broken in to.

Mr Caffrey was found not guilty of one count of unauthorised modification of computer material at Southwark Crown Court.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said: "Clearly the authorities are facing a fundamental problem when attempting to prosecute suspected computer criminals."

"The Caffrey case suggests that even if no evidence of a computer break-in is unearthed they might still be able to successfully claim that they were not responsible for what their computer does, or what is found on its hard drive," added Cluely.

According to the BBC, following the court's verdict Caffrey's solicitor said: "He wishes to say that this ordeal has been a dark cloud hanging over him for the last two years. He had always insisted he was not guilty and that he was a victim of a criminal act rather than being a criminal himself."