Best Buy 'blackmailer' pleads not guilty

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Robert Lemos
CNET News.com
January 08, 2004, 09:20 GMT

A Mississippi man has denied charges that he threatened to reveal security flaws in Best Buy's Web site unless paid $2.5m

A Mississippi man pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges that he threatened to reveal security weaknesses in the Web site of electronics seller Best Buy unless the company paid him $2.5m (?1.37m).

Federal prosecutors charged Thomas E Ray III with two counts of extortion for allegedly sending threatening email messages to Best Buy under the guise of "Jamie Weathersby" between 16 October and 30 October last year.

"This individual contacted us and said he found a security glitch and was going to use it to put customer data on our site unless we paid him $2.5m," said Dawn Bryant, a Best Buy spokeswoman. The company contacted the FBI and, with the help of America Online and its Netscape Communications division, tracked down the apparent source of the emails.

Best Buy has found no evidence that its customers' data or accounts were compromised, Bryant said. "We were very confident that customer data was safe from very early on," she said.

Ray could not be contacted, and his attorney, Rick Petry, wasn't immediately available for comment.

The trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in mid-March. The charges could result in a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.