United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Sharon E. Ormsby, Acting Special Agent In Charge of the Boston Division of the FBI, announced today that John Bombard of Seminole, Florida pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to two counts of Intentionally Accessing a Protected Computer Without Authorization.
At the plea hearing, the prosecutor told the court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the government's evidence would have proven that in June, 2004, John Bombard intentionally accessed, without permission, computer systems at Columbia University in New York and Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. On those computer systems was a program, which had been placed on the computers without permission, which enabled Bombard to communicate with a network of computers he controlled in various locations on the Internet. On several occasions, BOMBARD instructed his network of computers to flood computers or networks he targeted with so many requests for attention at the same time, that they were simply overwhelmed and disabled trying to respond. One attack cost a Cambridge-based company in excess of $41,000 in response costs and lost revenue.
Bombard faces up to two years imprisonment, to be followed by one year of supervised release, and a $100,000 fine.
