[ISN] Dana Arvidson, Gabriel Schaffer avoid prison time in FBI sting

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http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business-11/123175273238730.xml&coll=2

By Peter Krouse
Plain Dealer Reporter
January 12, 2009

Dana Arvidson and Gabriel Schaffer knew they did something wrong, but 
after five years and no criminal charges, they hoped the ordeal was 
behind them.

Then came the indictments last February.

Arvidson and Schaffer, two computer-savvy guys from the Cleveland area, 
were accused of using their knowledge to swipe military secrets from a 
defense contractor.

Or what they thought was a defense contractor.

It was really an FBI sting.

Both men pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court last September. But on 
Thursday, Judge Patricia Gaughan spared them prison time, sentencing 
them to six months of house arrest and three years' probation.

Gaughan told the men she had a hard time making a decision. They seemed 
to have learned from their mistake and moved on with their lives, she 
said, but their crime was serious.

"The potential for harm was enormous," the judge said.

In 2002, Arvidson, a Hiram College graduate, had a company called 
SecurNet in Mayfield. Schaffer, who had a degree from Case Western 
Reserve University, worked for him. They thought they could make money 
protecting wireless computer networks from hackers.

They bragged in a Crain's Cleveland Business article that they had 
breached a number of wireless networks and that companies should hire 
them to perform security audits.

[...]


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