Student sentenced for 2006 hacking of SEAS server

Engineering senior Ryan Goldstein was sentenced yesterday to one year of various types of confinement and was fined $30,000 for his involvement in a hacking scheme that caused a Penn server to crash.

He received five years of probation from U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson.

His year of confinement includes 90 days in custody, which Baylson recommended be an in-home situation but could involve prison time.

Goldstein will also serve 90 days in a halfway house and 180 days of home confinement.

Goldstein, a Bioengineering major, must also pay a fine of $30,000.

Other conditions of his sentencing include participation in a mental-health program and full disclosure of financial records. He is also only allowed to use a computer for work and school for five years.

This combination of penalties, though "unusual," Baylson said, is within the federal sentencing guidelines, which suggest zero to six months in prison.

Goldstein, who was involved in hacking into the School of Engineering and Applied Science's computer server in February 2006, was arrested as part of an international FBI investigation in fall 2007.

He pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting another person to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer, a federal misdemeanor, in March.

Goldstein is still enrolled at the University.

At the sentencing hearing, Goldstein's attorney, Ronald Levine, asked for a non-incarceration sentence.

He highlighted Goldstein's cooperation with the government following his arrest and his "extraordinary remorse" for his actions, saying he had apologized to those affected and participated in community service.

Part of that service has involved working in Hillel's soup kitchen.

Levine said Goldstein's actions since his arrest are "evidence of someone who has begun the process of straightening himself out."

In addition to Goldstein's participation in the hacking scheme, FBI agents found several thousand images of child pornography on his computer. The child porn was disclosed for the first time in court yesterday.

He did not face charges for the pornography because he helped the FBI in its investigation of the hacking scheme.

Goldstein's psychologist testified that she had been treating him for "mixed anxiety and depressed mood" since December 2006, and incarceration "would only increase his anxiety greatly."

Goldstein also spoke at the hearing.

"I want to apologize to everyone who was affected by my actions," he said. "Not a day goes by when I don't think about what I did."

He said that he "didn't resurface from that computer world until the FBI knocked on my door," but that since his arrest, he has been able to better relate to others and "feel more connected with the world."

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