Eric McCarty goes before a federal judge this month on charges he damaged the University of Southern California’s online application system. McCarty, 25, says he was just trying to highlight the Web site’s security vulnerabilities. A not-guilty plea just might fly with a jury, since it doesn’t appear McCarty did anything with the data he stole. But as data theft and other cybercrimes wreak damages nationwide, the “white-hat hacker” defense won’t win him much sympathy. Meanwhile, prosecutors and judges are treating these cases much more seriously…
