British national faces charges for infiltrating US computers
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A British man has been arrested in England and charged by the US and Britain with infiltrating US government computer systems, including those run by the military, to steal confidential data and disrupt operations, authorities said.
US prosecutors said the alleged hacker, Lauri Love, infiltrated thousands of computer systems including those of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, the US Army Corps of Engineers, NASA and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Love, 28, and three unnamed co-conspirators, believed to live in Australia and Sweden, intended their activity to “disrupt the operations and infrastructure of the United States government,” according to a US indictment unsealed yesterday.
“Such conduct endangers the security of our country and is an affront to those who serve,” US Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey, who announced the charges, said in a statement.
Love was charged in Britain with violating the Computer Misuse Act, and charged in the US with accessing a US government computer without permission and conspiracy, authorities said.
Fishman said the hacking took place from October 2012 until this month. He said it compromised personal data of US military personnel, and information on defense budgets, contract bidding, and the demolition and disposal of military facilities, and caused millions of dollars of losses.
Love lives in Stradishall, and was arrested on Friday by authorities from the cybercrime unit of Britain’s National Crime Agency. He has been released on bail until February, an NCA spokeswoman said.
The arrest comes as authorities worldwide coordinate efforts to combat cybercrime. On October 10, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel issued a memorandum emphasizing a need to safeguard even unclassified technical data against cyber intrusions to help protect US military superiority.
US prosecutors said the scheme involved the installation of malware in the hacked systems, creating “shells” and “back doors” that allowed Love and the other three to return later to steal data.
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