Cyber Law & Crime News

NEW JERSEY MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO LAUNCHING ATTACK THAT SHUT DOWN CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY WEBSITES

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty today to his role in a cyber attack on Church of Scientology websites in January 2008 that rendered the websites unavailable.

Dmitriy Guzner, 19, of Verona, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to computer hacking charges originally filed in Los Angeles for his role in the distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack against the Scientology websites. A DDOS attack occurs where a large amount of malicious Internet traffic is directed at a website or a set
of websites. The target websites are unable to handle the high volume of Internet traffic and therefore become unavailable to legitimate users.

According to the criminal information filed last year in United States District Court in Los Angeles, Guzner participated in the attack because he considered himself a member of an underground group called “Anonymous,” a group that has led protests against the Church of Scientology at various locations across the country.

Guzner is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. on August 24. As a result of today’s guilty plea, Guzner faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

This case was investigated by the Los Angeles Field Office Electronic Crimes Task Force, which includes the United States Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles Police Department.

The New York Field Office Electronic Crimes Task Force, and the Newark Field Office and the New Haven Resident Office of United States Secret Service assisted in the investigation.

source: cybercrime.gov

SWEDISH NATIONAL CHARGED WITH HACKING AND THEFT OF TRADE SECRETS RELATED TO ALLEGED COMPUTER INTRUSIONS AT NASA AND CISCO

Philip Gabriel Pettersson, aka “Stakkato,” 21, a Swedish national, was indicted today on intrusion and trade secret theft charges, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello for the Northern District of California and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The five-count indictment includes one intrusion count and two trade secret misappropriation counts involving Cisco Systems Inc. (Cisco), of San Jose, Calif., which is a provider of computer network equipment and producer of Internet routers. According to the allegations in the indictment Pettersson intentionally committed an intrusion between May 12, 2004, and May 13, 2004, into the computer system and network of Cisco. During the alleged intrusion some Cisco Internetwork Operating System code was allegedly misappropriated.

The indictment also charges two intrusion counts involving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), including computers at the Ames Research Center and the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division, located at Moffett Field, Calif. The indictment alleges Pettersson committed these intrusions on May 19, 2004, May 20, 2004 and Oct. 22, 2004.

Cisco and NASA cooperated in the government’s investigation. Following the incident, Cisco reported that it did not believe that any customer information, partner information or financial systems were affected.

The Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with the Swedish authorities on the case. An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt. The maximum penalty for each charge of intrusion and theft of trade secrets is 10 years in prison, a three year term of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI; U.S. Secret Service; NASA Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Computer Crimes Division; and numerous additional federal agencies. Mark L. Krotoski, presently at the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Paralegal Lauri Gomez and Assistant Netterie Lewis. CCIPS Senior Counsel Kimberly Peretti also assisted in the prosecution. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs has assisted on international coordination issues in the case.

source: cybercrime.gov