[ISN] Hackers ordered to pay restitution to Port Orange police

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Thu Mar 08 2007 - 01:10:05 PST


http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newEAST06030807.htm

By JAY STAPLETON
Staff Writer
March 08, 2007

DAYTONA BEACH -- When men from across the country hacked into a local 
police department computer to get personal information, they didn't 
expect to get tripped up by detectives who watch every penny.

The group of computer-savvy criminals who used a Trojan Horse virus to 
break into a Port Orange Police Department computer to gather personal 
information on a national crime fighting database has been ordered to 
pay back money for services they charged.

Some of the young men involved also used computers to get information on 
celebrities including Paris Hilton and California Gov. Arnold 
Schwartzenegger, according to news reports.

Justin A. Perras, 19, Timothy McKeage, 21, Jason D. Hawks, 24, Zachary 
W. Mann, 19, and Jeffrey R. Weinberg, 21, were ordered by a federal 
judge in West Palm Beach to stay away from computers. With a mix of 
prison or probation and community service as punishment for their pleas 
to conspiracy to commit computer fraud and identity theft, the five were 
ordered to pay $105,750 in restitution to database owner LexisNexis and 
Port Orange police, court records show.

"It's nice to see people will be held responsible," said Lt. Frank 
Surmaczewicz, who oversees the detective division in Port Orange. He was 
pleased his department will get back it's share of $1,905 in database 
charges and computer security costs.

Perras, of New Bedford, Mass., was sentenced Monday to a year in prison, 
to be followed by three years probation and 100 hours of community 
service. The others were sentenced in December to lesser prison 
sentences, or probation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The breach to the Port Orange police computer used in criminal 
investigations occurred between January and March 2005, court records 
show. McKeage, of Rhode Island, used a program to hack into the computer 
and infect it with a virus. He then used his unauthorized access in the 
department's database account to obtain user names and passwords used to 
create new usernames to access the database. The information was then 
shared with the others.

The men used the Accurint law enforcement database owned by LexisNexis 
to obtain information on more than a dozen people from around the 
country, including addresses, dates of birth and Social Security 
numbers.

The Washington Post reported last summer that interviews with three of 
the men revealed they obtained information on Hilton, Schwarzenegger and 
actors Laurence Fishburne and Demi Moore.

Perras told the Post there was no malicious intent. "We were just a 
bunch of kids goofing around," he said.

Surmaczewicz said officers here quickly recognized unusual activity in 
their database account, including more charges being billed to them than 
normal, and took action.

One red flag was that information was being obtained on people who had 
nothing to do with any of their investigations. "Once we knew it was 
someone from the outside, working in, that's when the Secret Service was 
notified."


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