Man Sentenced for Unauthorized Access into Computer Systems of
Connecticut Consulting Firm

United States Attorney John A. Danaher III announced that MARKUS P. LUKAWINSKY, age 32, of 54970 Avenida Madero, La Quinta, California, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut by United States District Judge Janet C. Hall. LUKAWINSKY received a sentence of twelve months plus one day in prison, to be followed by three years’ supervised release. In addition, LUKAWINSKY was required to pay restitution in the amount of $198,458.31 to the Greenwich consulting firm of Mars & Co.

LUKAWINSKY was originally indicted in November 2000 by a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport, Connecticut on charges of interstate transportation of stolen property and computer intrusion. He pleaded guilty to both charges in August 2001 before Judge Hall. At that time, LUKAWINSKY admitted that, from May 1999 through January 2000, he had transported stolen computer equipment belonging to Mars & Co. worth over $21,500 from Greenwich, Connecticut to White Plains, New York, and ultimately to La Quinta, California. Also, during approximately the same time period, LUKAWINSKY unlawfully accessed or "hacked" into the computer systems of Mars & Co. without authorization to read and delete electronic mail that belonged to another person.

According to the evidence proffered at sentencing, LUKAWINSKY initially accessed the Mars & Co. computer network without authorization and downloaded several encrypted password files. He then used a decryption tool to decrypt or "crack" numerous usernames and passwords. Thereafter, on at least five occasions, LUKAWINSKY re-connected to the Mars & Co. network and logged in as one of the employees whose username and password he had compromised. LUKAWINSKY did not compromise any of the confidential or proprietary information maintained by Mars & Co. on behalf of its clients.

At sentencing, Judge Hall found that LUKAWINSKY’s actions resulted in a total loss of over $198,000 to Mars & Co. That figure represented the stolen computer equipment worth approximately $21,500, plus the expenditure by Mars & Co. of over $176,000 to conduct a damage assessment and restore its computer network (including any corrupted data) to its condition prior to the intrusions.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn J. Chen.

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