WORLD : Hackers Guilty of Selling Codes

Three West German hackers were found guilty today of selling Western military computer codes to the Soviet KGB and given suspended sentences ranging from 14 months to two years.

Dirk Brzezinski, Peter Carl and Markus Hess were arrested in March after an investigation by U.S. and West German officials revealed the three had obtained passwords and codes giving them access to key military and research computers in the United States, Western Europe and Japan.

A fourth man, 30-year-old Karl Koch, who was also arrested in the case, committed suicide in May.

At the trial, which began Jan. 11, all three admitted guilt in obtaining the codes to sell them to a Soviet KGB agent in East Berlin.

In today’s decision, Chief Judge Leopold Spiller said the three were given suspended sentences because “it could not be proven that substantial damage had been done to the Federal Republic (West Germany) or its NATO partners.”