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AT&T employees took bribes to plant malware on the company's network
zdnet.com ^ | August 6, 2019 | Catalin Cimpanu for Zero Day

Posted on 08/06/2019 4:48:34 PM PDT by ransomnote

AT&T employees took bribes to unlock millions of smartphones, and to install malware and unauthorized hardware on the company's network, the Department of Justice said yesterday.

These details come from a DOJ case opened against Muhammad Fahd, a 34-year-old man from Pakistan, and his co-conspirator, Ghulam Jiwani, believed to be deceased.

The DOJ charged the two with paying more than $1 million in bribes to several AT&T employees at the company's Mobility Customer Care call center in Bothell, Washington.

OPERATING SINCE 2012 The bribery scheme lasted from at least April 2012 until September 2017. Initially, the two Pakistani men bribed AT&T employees to unlock expensive iPhones so they could be used outside AT&T's network.

The two recruited AT&T employees by approaching them in private via telephone or Facebook messages. Employees who agreed, received lists of IMEI phone codes which they had to unlock for sums of money.

Employees would then receive bribes in their bank accounts, in shell companies they created, or as cash, from the two Pakistani men.

This initial stage of the scheme last for about a year, until April 2013, when several employees left or were fired by AT&T.

THE MALWARE STAGE That's when Fahd changed tactics and bribed AT&T employees to install malware on AT&T's network at the Bothell call center. Between April and October 2013, this initial malware collected data on how AT&T infrastructure worked.

According to court documents unsealed yesterday, this malware appears to be a keylogger, having the ability "to gather confidential and proprietary information regarding the structure and functioning of AT&T's internal protected computers and applications.

The DOJ said Fahd and his co-conspirator then created a second malware strain that leveraged the information acquired through the first. This second malware used AT&T employee credentials to perform automated actions on AT&T's internal application to unlock phone's at Fahd's behest, without needing to interact with AT&T employees every time.

In November 2014, as Fahd began having problems controlling this malware, the DOJ said he also bribed AT&T employees to install rogue wireless access points inside AT&T's Bothell call center. These devices helped Fahd with gaining access to AT&T internal apps and network, and continue the rogue phone unlocking scheme.

ONE AT&T EMPLOYEE MADE $428,500 The DOJ claims Fahd and Jiwani paid more than $1 million in bribes to AT&T employees, and successfully unlocked more than two million devices, most of which were expensive iPhones. One AT&T employee received more than $428,500 in bribes over a five year period, investigators said. MORE AT LINK


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: att; h1b; hireamerican; immigration; malware
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To: BenLurkin
"Who in their right mind would use Pakistan IT guys?"

Debbie Whatshername Schultz and the Dems in Congress.

21 posted on 08/06/2019 6:03:06 PM PDT by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's fore sure)
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To: BenLurkin

Democrats in Congress. Remember? Amazing how fast that story vanished down the memory hole, isn’t it?


22 posted on 08/06/2019 6:11:24 PM PDT by Ronin (I need a new tagline...)
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To: BenLurkin

Democrats.


23 posted on 08/06/2019 6:25:41 PM PDT by softengine
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To: BenLurkin

Oh wait. You said ‘right minds’. Scratch previous response.


24 posted on 08/06/2019 6:26:18 PM PDT by softengine
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To: BenLurkin
RAT senators and congressrats?
25 posted on 08/06/2019 6:50:54 PM PDT by Chode (Send bachelors, and come heavily armed!)
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To: catnipman

You can buy unlocked phones on Amazon easy peasy to work on whatever network you wish. When I traveled overseas five years ago I found out how ATT plays this unlock game. Since then I just bought unlocked phones and when I switched carriers to Tmobile last year it only required a change in sim card. No unlocking needed.


26 posted on 08/07/2019 7:05:01 AM PDT by BJ1
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To: BJ1

“You can buy unlocked phones on Amazon easy peasy to work on whatever network you wish.”

absolutely untrue. i’ve repeatedly searched amazon (and the internet in general) for unlocked phones for the phone and networks i wanted, and i’ve never successfully located a legit unlocked phone on amazon for the phone and networks i wanted ... in every case, the sellers were selling VERY used phones and their feedback was universally horrible about the junk they were selling didn’t work, wasn’t unlocked, etc.


27 posted on 08/07/2019 8:23:10 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: BenLurkin
Who in their right mind would use Pakistani IT guys?

Nobody. But corporate globalists who care about neither America nor anything else but the current quarter's financial report are out of their minds and all to plentiful.

28 posted on 08/07/2019 2:35:52 PM PDT by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
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To: catnipman

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B01CYYYRNK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That is the phone I bought. See it’s branded AT&T but my carrier is T-Mobile.

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B01774WPQ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Is the phone I had before when I had ATT. I switched to T-Mobile simply by changing the sim card.

“absolutely untrue” is what you said. All I did was search for unlocked phones and two out of two times they worked. Both of these phones were brand new as far as I could tell. They did not appear refurbished.


29 posted on 08/08/2019 11:43:52 AM PDT by BJ1
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To: BJ1

so, you researched two phones and one carrier ... there’s thousands of different locked phone models and dozens of carriers ...

“You can buy unlocked phones on Amazon easy peasy to work on whatever network you wish.”

that’s still patently false ... there’s many carriers that have ONLY models of phones manufactured for their network that no one but that carrier is allowed to sell. period. ... so NO, it’s NOT “easy peasy” for “whatever network you wish”

try finding a factory-new unlocked LG Exalt® LTE from a reputable dealer on amazon that will work on tracfone or any other virtual carrier of verizon ...


30 posted on 08/08/2019 12:45:10 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: catnipman

you can buy a different model that would be unlocked for any carrier using the Verizon network. If you absolutely have your heart set on that one particular model you’ll have to buy it and get it unlocked. I did that once and I found someone on Ebay to generate some code for me. But I had to pay for that.


31 posted on 08/08/2019 3:37:50 PM PDT by BJ1
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To: BJ1

“If you absolutely have your heart set on that one particular model you’ll have to buy it and get it unlocked.”

but, but, but YOU said:

““You can buy unlocked phones on Amazon easy peasy to work on whatever network you wish.”

NOW you say:

“If you absolutely have your heart set on that one particular model you’ll have to buy it and get it unlocked.”

that’s not exactly “easy peasy” buying any phone unlocked on amazon for any network like your original statement claimed, now is it?


32 posted on 08/08/2019 8:50:50 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: catnipman

True enough I said that. But why do you have to have that one phone? When there are others that will work with zero headaches?


33 posted on 08/09/2019 12:03:26 PM PDT by BJ1
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