Swede, 21, charged in Cisco hacking scheme

WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- A 21-year-old Swede has been charged with hacking into Cisco Systems Inc.'s computers and stealing trade secrets, U.S. officials say.

Philip Gabriel Pettersson, also known as "Stakkato," was named in a five-count indictment that includes one count of intrusion and two of trade secret misappropriation involving the San Jose, Calif., computer networking giant, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Pettersson intentionally intruded into Cisco's network between May 12 and 13, 2004, during which time he allegedly misappropriated Cisco Internetwork Operating System code.

The indictment also charges that Pettersson hacked into National Aeronautics and Space Administration computers at the Ames Research Center and the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division at Moffett Field, Calif., in 2004.

The Justice Department said Cisco and NASA cooperated in its investigation. Following the incident, Cisco reported that it did not believe that any customer information, partner information or financial systems were affected.