The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who conducted a 14-month investigation, say a hacker broke into the computer system at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Center, and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association, and Hughes STC, an aerospace firm.
The hacker also got into several private computer systems at universities in Canada and the United States, police said. Police raided a home in Sudbury and one in nearby Val Caron on Wednesday, arresting Jason Mewhiney and seizing documents, computer systems, and disks. The raids followed a joint investigation by the RCMP, the FBI, NASA, and the computer crime division of the U.S. Office of the Inspector General. Mewhiney has been charged with mischief by wilfully obstructing and interfering with the use of data. he is out on bail and will appear in court May 13.