Student Charged With Hacking Into UT Computer System

A 19-year-old University of Texas student has been charged with a felony after he was accused of hacking into the UT computer system and shutting it down temporarily during student registration.

Garret Ross Phillips turned himself in to campus police Monday, was charged with breaching computer security and released after posting a $20,000 bond. Conviction would result in a punishment of up to two years in state jail.

A police affidavit says Phillips downloaded software used by hackers to crash websites and used it to crash the UT registrar's office's computer system in April. The affidavit says UT campus information technology experts traced the commands to Phillips' computer address.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.