Engineering junior Ryan Goldstein admitted in federal court Feb. 29 that he helped hack into a computer network, causing the School of Engineering and Applied Science's server to crash in February 2006.

Goldstein pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting another person to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer, a federal misdemeanor. His trial was scheduled to begin March 10, but he requested a change-of-plea hearing last week.

Goldstein apologized in court for his actions, defense attorney Ronald Levine said.

Goldstein was indicted last November for his involvement in a global-computer hacking scheme. He helped Owen Walker, a New Zealand computer hacker known online as AKILL, carry out attacks by using a fellow Penn student's username and password to access a Penn server.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Levy could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

Friday evening, University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said she could not immediately comment on the case or say whether the plea would affect Goldstein's status as a student.

Staff writer Thomas Himes contributed reporting to this article.