Alleged NASA, Cisco hacker indicted by US authorities

The Swedish man indicted by US authorities for the alleged 2004 theft of source code for Cisco Systems' IOS software may be prosecuted in his home country.

District prosecutor Chatrine Rudström is waiting for documents from the US before deciding whether to prosecute the man for the crimes in Sweden and according to Swedish rules, Rudström said in an interview with Computer Sweden.

Philip Gabriel Pettersson, 21, was indicted by US authorities on Tuesday on one count of intrusion and two counts of misappropriation of trade secrets. He was also indicted on two counts of intrusion involving NASA. Each count of intrusion and theft of trade secrets carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 (£165,000) fine.

In November 2007, a Swedish court convicted Pettersson on seven counts of intrusion at a number of Swedish universities in November 2007. He received a suspended prison sentence and a 200,000 Swedish kronor ($25,000) fine.

He has always claimed that he is innocent and only developed the tools that were used during the attacks.

Pettersson found out about the latest round of charges in his local paper, he told Computer Sweden.