Charges:
Conspiracies to commit computer fraud, copyright infringement, wire fraud, mail fraud, identity theft and theft of trade secrets
The defendants are also charged with individual counts of aggravated identity theft, unauthorized computer access, copyright infringement and wire fraud.
Other people involved:
- Nathan Leroux, 20, of Bowie, Maryland;
- Sanadodeh Nesheiwat, 28, of Washington, New Jersey; ****pleaded guilty
- David Pokora, 22, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada ***pleaded guilty
Data stolen:
Software and data related to the Xbox One gaming console and Xbox Live online gaming system, popular games such as “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” and “Gears of War 3” and proprietary software used to train military helicopter pilots.
A Ball State freshman is one of four members of an international hacking ring that have been charged with hacking into Microsoft and the U.S. Army to steal data.
Austin Alcala, along with three others, was charged with stealing more than $100 million of data, including software used to train military helicopter pilots and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice.
They were charged with 18 counts, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, copyright infringement, wire fraud, identity theft and theft of trade secrets.
They gained access to the computer networks and stole usernames and passwords of company employees, according to the superseding indictment and other court records. The indictment also says they stole unreleased software, trade secrets and copyrighted works that have not been released yet.
Alcala did not respond to requests for comment.
Kiley Brewster, a freshman psychology major, went to Saint Theodore Guerin High School in Noblesville with Alcala her freshman year. He was in some of her classes, and Brewster said even as a freshman, he was known for hacking.
“He hacked Formspring – he could find out what computer and what anonymous person sent it in,” Brewster said. “He hacked the firewall … and he would get in trouble all the time with our technology guy at the school because of how much he was doing.”
Brewster said during class, he would hack into classmates' computers make them talk out loud and say inappropriate things.
Throughout his time at Guerin, Brewster said he didn’t hide his hacking skills.
“He was kind of proud of it,” she said. “It’s just weird to think that somebody I know [is a part of this]. I guess we kind of should have thought he could do more with it, but at the time it’s just a high school kid messing around with computers, but then you find out he’s part of an international hacking group.”
Fred Cate, the director of the Center for Applied Cyber Security Research at Indiana University, said for some people, hacking starts off as a game.
“Can I do it, can I get away with this? Can I get in without being detected? It’s not done for financial gain, particularly young computer geeks get into it for bragging rights,” Cate said.
Even with the game-like introduction to it, Cate said hacking used to be centered on bragging rights or childish pranks, but now is changing to be done a lot more for financial gain.
He said a lot of the time now, hacking is people trying to steal credit card numbers, governments trying to steal sensitive information or military secrets or companies trying to steal competitors drawings, plans or financial reports.
“I think we’re seeing a lot more of it now in the more sophisticated and far more nefarious type of hacking,” Cate said.
Cate said the market for stolen data is huge, and hackers tend to use the Internet as a way of selling things like email addresses, credit cards and illicit games.
But the stolen data doesn’t only harm the companies. Cate said it would hurt pretty much everyone.
“It would drive up the price of the good, because Microsoft has to spend more on security,” Cate said. “That could hurt everyone. We might see companies use more security now… and in terms of the U.S. Army stuff, it’s all paid for by tax payers. It would be hard to say it only hurts the Army and not everybody.”
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