Good firewalls make good neighbors, but they won’t stop a determined hacker from busting through and manipulating your cyber footprints. For proof, look at the Minnesota man convicted of hacking his neighbor’s WiFi and attempting to frame him for child pornography and other crimes will serve 18 years in prison.

Wired reports the admitted hacker says his cyber crimes were retaliation for the victims’ report to police that he had inappropriate contact with their 4-year-old boy. In addition to the child porn frame-up — he made a fake MySpace profile with child porn images — the man said he sent threatening emails to Vice President Joe Biden and other politicians under the assumed identity of his neighbor. The hacker also said he sent flirtatious messages to coworkers. The FBI eventually tracked the man down.

If you’ve dealt with nightmares involving your neighbors and WiFi, share your story in the comments.

Wi-Fi-Hacking Neighbor From Hell Sentenced to 18 Years [Wired]

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