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by Dave Gradijan

FBI Consultant Won’t Be Jailed for Hacking

News
Jul 19, 20061 min
CSO and CISOData and Information Security

The computer consultant who pleaded guilty to illegally accessing the passwords of FBI Director Robert Mueller and others in the agency is being spared from prison, MSNBC.com reports.

Joseph Colon was instead sentenced late last week to six months of home detention and ordered to pay $20,000 to the FBI in restitution, according to MSNBC.

Although Colon, of Springfield, Ill., could have been given up to 18 months in prison, according to MSNBC, prosecutors don’t believe he was trying to compromise national security or benefit financially when he used free Internet programs to help him decode the passwords.

“Joseph T. Colon was granted a substantial level of trust. He betrayed that trust,” FBI Assistant Director Charles Phalen Jr. told MSNBC. “Once we identified the breach of security, we took quick and appropriate action to neutralize its impact.”

Compiled by Dave Gradijan

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