Acxiom Hackers Face 144-count Federal Indictment ("The Biggest Cyber-Crime Ever Prosecuted")

arkansasbusiness.com ^ | July 21, 2004 | Gwen Moritz

[adam_az]

Paging the InfoSec pinglist...
Let me know if you want to be 1 or 0. (That's ON or OFF, for those who are not binary-compliant)

[HAL9000]

Also named in the indictment are ... William F. Clinton, a computer specialist.

Close - but no cigar.

[adam_az]

To the InfoSec ping list:

I don't know where they get this is the idea that this is the "biggest" cyber crime ever prosecuted.

What metric is this based on? Not $, 7 million is small 'taters. Also, the article doesn't mention what the $7 million figure represents exactly.

Still, pretty interesting.

[adam_az]

It is arkansas... you never know.

RichMedia... Marc Rich? ;)

[Graymatter]

Wasn't Wesley Clark on their payroll? Seems to me he was an Axciom lobbyist.

[Museum Twenty]

bump

[DeltaZulu]

unauthorized access of a protected computer

This seems like yet another oxymoron.

(I know, legally protected, but it doesn't seem very protected if you can access it in an unauthorized way.)

[LTCJ]

it doesn't seem very protected if you can access it in an unauthorized way.

Running Windows? Something tells me you haven't run a deep scan of your own computer before. If not, invest in a couple of rolls of Reyonlds Wrap before you do. It won't help your computer but it might keep the spyware from leaping into your head ...

Me? It cause me to switch operating systems for my home systems.

[Badeye]

Yes, it is interesting, and yep, the headline does seem a bit overblown.

Thats happening a lot in the media these days....(grin)

Thanks for the ping.

[lelio]

Acxiom in a written statement issued Wednesday. “Acxiom takes the security of our systems very seriously, and we believe that those who unlawfully intrude on our systems should be dealt with by the criminal justice system.
...
The investigation revealed Snipermail employees accessed Acxiom’s FTP server at its Conway facility in April 2002 and Spring 2003 and regularly downloaded large data files through July 2003, according to the indictment.
...
The indictment claimed the conspirators decrypted Acxiom password files to access more data than they were supposed to have access to.

I can't see how a company can say that they "take security seriously" and then have their information on a publically available FTP server, whose files are "protected" with a simple to crack password system.

Not that I condone these theives, but its like a businessman putting a big lock on the front door, only to leave the back door open.

It also allegedly promised some with assistance on visa and immigration issues.

Oh now its getting interesting. Please keep me posted if you hear of anything else.

[HAL9000]

The suspect was arraigned a few days ago and entered a not guilty plea.

[timestax]

bttt

[timestax]

Prosecutors claimed that Scott Levine, 45, of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Snipermail.com Inc., accessed Acxiom databases between April 2002 and August 2003. Information accessed included names, addresses, e-mail addresses, customer demographics, and probably some birth dates and social security numbers. “It may be the biggest cyber-crime ever prosecuted and investigated,” said assistant

who is this Scott Levine, 45, of Boca Raton?! eh

[timestax]

S C O T T L E V I N ......WHO IS HE...why no news about him....something fishy going on!

[timestax]

bump for truth

[timestax]

.

[timestax]

bump

[Slip18]

Boca Raton, isn't that where George's (Seinfeld) parents retired?

[TXBSAFH]

Please add me to this ping list, thank you.