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Is This Hacker A Robin Hood?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 3, 1998 / 2:08 PM EST / CBS

The mother of an Israeli teen-ager suspected of hacking into the Pentagon's computer system was quoted Friday as saying her son was a high tech "Robin Hood."

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Mali Tenenbaum, whose son Ehud is known as "Analyzer," told the daily Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the United States owed the 18-year-old thanks for showing how easy it was to penetrate the Pentagon's defense system.

"I know my son. He is a Robin Hood who was using the computer to find a way to do good," Mali said.

Ehud, who is due to be conscripted into the Israeli army soon, has been under police investigation since he was tracked down in March with the help of the FBI.

If unable to serve in an elite infantry unit, Tenebaum is reported to have expressed a wish to use his computer skills in the Israeli army.

The teen-ager, who was called "damn good" but dangerous by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spent 10 days under house arrest in March while Israeli police and the FBI carried out their investigation.

Tenenbaum said her son mounted the cyber assault on the Pentagon computer for a "challenge" and he was not interested in what the site contained.

To illustrate this point, Tenenbaum's recently hired media consultant said that the hacker frequently targeted neo-Nazi, anti-Israel, and pedophilia oriented sites for destruction.