Two alleged members of a hacking gang have had their collars felt according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia:
Andrew Otto Boggs, aka “INCURSIO,” 22, of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and Justin Gray Liverman, aka “D3F4ULT,” 24, of Morehead City, North Carolina, were arrested today on charges related to their alleged roles in the computer hacking of several senior U.S. government officials and U.S. government computer systems.
According to charging documents filed with the court, Boggs and Liverman conspired with members of a hacking group that called itself “Crackas With Attitude.” From about October 2015 to February 2016, the group used “social engineering” hacking techniques, including victim impersonation, to gain unlawful access to the personal online accounts of senior U.S. government officials, their families, and several U.S. government computer systems. In some instances, members of the conspiracy uploaded private information that they obtained from victims’ personal accounts to public websites; made harassing phone calls to victims and their family members; and defaced victims’ social media accounts. At least three other members of the conspiracy are located in the United Kingdom and are being investigated by the Crown Prosecution Service.
He isn’t mentioned in the press release, but one of the people who was hacked was CIA director John Brennan who had his personal AOL account compromised.
Oh, the shame.
Not the hack, of course. It’s easy to imagine how folks could fall for a social engineering attack.
I mean having an AOL account. That’s almost unforgivable.
As well as the attack on John Brennan’s AOL account, the Crackas With Attitude (CWA) group has also been linked to a hack of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s and and FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano’s Comcast accounts.
CWA is also thought to have been responsible for an attack on Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper who had his personal webmail and phone account hacked, and calls forwarded to Free Palestine Movement.
Now might be a very good time to remind everyone to enable two-step verification/two-factor authentication on their online accounts…
Read more about two-step verification:
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) versus two-step verification (2SV)
- How to better protect your Facebook account from hackers
- How to better protect your Twitter account from hackers
- How to enable two-step verification (2SV) on your WhatsApp Account
- How to protect your Amazon account with two-step verification (2SV)
- How to better protect your Google account with two-step Verification (2SV)
- How to protect your Dropbox account with two-step verification (2SV)
- How to protect your Office 365 users with multi-factor authentication
- How to protect your Microsoft account with two-step verification (2SV)
- How to better protect your Tumblr account from hackers with 2SV
- How to protect your LinkedIn account from hackers with two-step verification (2SV)
- How to protect your PayPal account with two-step verification (2SV)
- How to protect your Yahoo account with two-step verification (2SV)
- How to protect your Apple ID account against hackers
- How to better protect your Google account with two-step verification and Google Authenticator
- How to protect your Hootsuite account from hackers
- How to better protect your Instagram account with two-step verification (2SV)
- Instagram finally supports third-party 2FA apps for greater account security
- How to protect your Nintendo account from hackers with two-step verification (2SV)
- How to better protect your Roblox account from hackers with two-step verification (2SV)
Obviously these so called "Hackers" used techniques that any idiot can use. As for AOL Mail, you'd think the CIA Director would know better than using the least secure personal e-mail available! Gees use PGP encryption at least. Come on dude your the director of a CIA that excels at hacking and cracking. I've got three letters for you. VPN!