U.S. prosecutors have charged Daniel Spitler and Andrew Auernheimer (pictured) with one count of fraud and one count of conspiracy for allegedly hacking AT&T’s servers last June. The two were part of a group calling itself Goatse Security, which sent Gawker the full list of e-mail addresses. The list included well-known government officials, celebrities and other high-profile media professionals, including the former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and Diane Sawyer of ABC News, as well as our own Christina Warren.
The addresses were allegedly obtained through a security loophole on AT&T’s website that returned e-mail addresses associated with ICC IDs, which are used to link SIM cards on mobile devices with specific subscribers. The group didn’t release information until the security hole had been closed, and it only released the data on the condition that the subscribers’ personal information would not be compromised.
Auernheimer said that he and his colleagues were acting in the public’s best interest to expose AT&T’s security hole. AT&T, however, believes it was a publicity stunt.
Auernheimer was arrested a week after the incident, when police acting on an FBI search warrant found cocaine, ecstasy and LSD, as well as unnamed controlled pharmaceuticals, in his home.
Spitler is expected to appear later today in federal court in Newark, New Jersey; Auernheimer is scheduled to appear in federal court in Arkansas. The FBI and Paul Fishman, the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, have scheduled a joint press conference to discuss the case this afternoon.
Source: Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment