2 of 'Crackas With Attitude' Arrested for Hacking into Senior Officials' Accounts

welcomia/Shutterstock.com

The hackers allegedly used social engineering techniques and impersonated victims to gain access to senior U.S. government officials, their families, and several U.S. government computer systems.

Two men allegedly associated with the hacking crew Crackas With Attitude were arrested today for hacking into the senior government officials’ email accounts and other government systems.

Andrew Otto Boggs, aka INCURSIO, and Justin Gray Liverman, aka D3F4ULT, are charged with multiple federal laws, including false personation of an officer or employee of the United States, aggravated identity theft, fraud and related activity in connections with computers, false information and hoaxes, and harassing telephone calls.

The duo and other members of the Crackas With Attitude used social-engineering techniques and impersonated victims to gain access to senior U.S. government officials, their families, and several U.S. government computer systems, according to the Justice Department release.

» Get the best federal technology news and ideas delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here.

The affidavit doesn’t mention victims by name, but Crackas With Attitude previously boasted about hacking into former CIA head John Brennan’s AOL account and getting into Comcast accounts of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano. Some files from Brennan’s account were later posted on WikiLeaks. The group also posted 3,500 names, phone numbers and email addresses of U.S. authorities and military personnel.

The affidavit does identify systems the hackers gained access to, such as the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal, the Joint Automated Booking System, Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Virtual Command Center/Special Interest Group.

Other identified members of the conspiracy include CRACKA and DERP, two 17-year-old males and CUBED, a 15-year-old male. They are based in the United Kingdom and are being investigated by the Crown Prosecution Service, according to the affidavit.

Boggs and Liverman will appear at the federal courthouse in Alexandria next week.