indictment
Feds: TSA Worker Tried to Sabotage Terror Database
A former Transportation Security Administration contractor is being charged in Colorado for allegedly injecting malicious code into a government network used for screening airport security workers and others. The malicious code, a logic bomb installed last October, was designed to cause damage and disrupt data on servers on an undisclosed date but was caught by other workers before it delivered its payload. Douglas James Duchak, 46, had worked as a data analyst at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center, or CSOC, since 2004.
Continue reading »Cable modem hacking expert indicted on fraud charges
Ryan Harris—known by the alias DerEngel—is an expert on cable modem hacking, an art that he describes at length in a 2006 instructional guide that was published by No Starch Press. He runs a small company that sells unlocked cable modems with custom firmware and provides instructional material that explains how to manipulate the devices in various ways. Although there are plenty of valid reasons for users to want complete access to their network hardware, cable modem hacking can also be used to circumvent ISP-imposed bandwidth caps and obtain free service through MAC address spoofing.
Continue reading »Prerelease music pirates face 4 years in prison, $250k fine
If illegally copying music files doesn’t annoy the RIAA enough, P2P leaks of prerelease albums are enough to send content owners into a blind rage. The industry seems to consider prerelease albums to be worth much more than they are after their release, and when law enforcement manages to catch a few of those responsible for the leaks, they go to town. Such is the case with four members of piracy group Rabid Neurosis (or RNS, for short) who were indicted this week for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
Continue reading »Feds: Would-be Satellite TV Pirate Offered $250,000 Reward to Smartcard Cracker
A would-be satellite TV pirate was arrested after offering a $250,000 reward for secret code from a satellite TV smartcard, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Monday in California. Jung Kwak, who owns a company that imports receiver boxes that pick up satellite TV signals, allegedly conspired with two others to hire someone to break the latest encryption scheme used by Echostar’s Dish Network, authorities say. The encryption scheme, known as Nagra 3, is the current Holy Grail for digital content pirates and was implemented by the network in 2007 to thwart pirates who had already cracked previous versions of its encryption to steal its programs.
Continue reading »International Phone Hacking Ring Busted; Stole $55 Million Worth of Calls
Authorities in several countries have helped bust an international phone hacking ring that cracked into thousands of corporate phone networks in the U.S. and elsewhere in order to route calls through the networks at the expense of the hacked companies. Three foreign nationals were indicted in the U.S., according to a document unsealed on Friday, for allegedly hacking into the phone systems, while five Pakistani nationals were arrested in Italy for allegedly financing the scheme and selling access to the hacked networks to other call centers and using the hacked networks to route their own customer calls.
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