From Prisoner to Entrepreneur - Cyber Group Network's Gregory Evans - Brief Article

Chief Executive, The, Oct, 2001 by Sandy Kemper

THEY SAY INCARCERATION gives a man time to think. In the case of Gregory Evans, 32, now CEO of the Cyber Group Network (CGN), jail gave him time to hatch a business plan.

In November 1998, Evans was arrested for hacking into the computers of AT&T, MCI, Sprint, WorldCom and ATX. A whistleblower notified the FBI he was billing millions of dollars worth of Internet access fees to fake toll-free accounts he set up while employed by Franklin Telecom, a telecom equipment and services provider.

Evans, whose adventures in hacking began when the father of a fellow high school student caught him altering report cards and hired him to break into the computers of a rival law firm, was confined to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles for 16 months while he awaited trial on two charges. (Evans was also charged, in a separate case, with high-tech grand theft for digitally diverting $300,000 worth of pagers from their manufacturer.)

"In high school I wrote a paper on how I wanted to be the president of AT&T after I graduated," Evans recalls. "Little did I know that years later, I'd be indicted for ripping off the company."

While in jail, Evans encountered a trove of tarnished business talent in the form of fallen lawyers, CPAs, and executives. Their counsel helped him launch CGN, a provider of computer security software and anti-surveillance products in San Bernardino, CA, with revenues of $10 million.

Evans took CGN public in May 2000 on an over-the-counter market. The company now has 65 employees and over 2,000 shareholders. Its clients include Senedyne and Strategic Security Guard Service. Evans hopes to clear $100 million in sales next year.

Still on probation, Evans is required to repay $9.8 million in restitution and to disclose his criminal record to business associates.

Far from harming his credibility as a CEO, Evans finds his history as a hacker helps him get business.

"If you want to see if your computer is vulnerable to hackers, who are you going to hire?" he asks. "Someone who learned everything from textbooks, or someone who's broken into some of the biggest corporations in the world?"

Sandy Kemper, founder and CEO of online banking services firm eScout and former chairman and CEO of UMB Bank.