Romanian Man Indicted for Hacking NASA

[Draken]

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted a Romanian man for allegedly hacking into more than 150 different government computers, including machines in NASA, the Department of Energy, and the U.S. Navy.

 

As a result of the intrusion and loss of data, which went on for about two years, NASA reportedly suffered $1.36 million in losses. The DoE and the Navy together reported a loss of near $100,000.

 

Victor Faur, 26, of Arad, Romania, is the leader of the hacking group called The WhiteHat Team, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the United States Attorney's Office in the Central District of California. The group's alleged goal is to hack into U.S. government computers because of their reputation as some of the most secure machines in the world, the USAO reported in a written release.

 

Faur faces 10 counts -- one count of conspiracy and nine counts of computer intrusion. If he is convicted on all 10 counts, he would face a maximum sentence of 54 years in federal prison.

 

Right now, Faur is being prosecuted by the Romanian government for unrelated computer crimes, according to Mrozek. He said he is not sure what the specific Romanian charges are.

Mrozek said the next step is to get Faur onto U.S. soil so he can be prosecuted here. But that will have to wait until his Romanian prosecution is complete.

 

"It is our intention to get him into the United States to face the charges, either by extradition or by other means," he said, adding that Faur could turn himself in to U.S. authorities or he could be picked up if he ever tries to cross country borders. "The timing largely depends on what happens with the Romanian prosecution."

 

In the indictment, the government alleges that Faur hacked into and took control of government computers, causing the compromised machines to display messages "that flaunted the computer intrusion." Faur also allegedly forced the computers to act as chat rooms where he could communicate with other members of the WhiteHat Team.

 

The government also claims Faur searched the compromised computers for passwords that he could use to gain unauthorized access to other computers. Some of the computers were used to collect and process data from spacecraft in Earth orbit or deep space, to evaluate new scientific technologies, and to collect, store and analyze other scientific data.

 

In a written statement, the U.S. Attorney's Office said "NASA, the Energy Department, and the Navy could not rely upon the integrity of the data on the hacked computers. Therefore, systems had to be rebuilt, and scientists and engineers had to manually communicate with spacecraft."

 

The investigation was run by NASA's Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

 

Link

 

My first thought after reading the headline was "Damn it, Baley."

[Laozi]

Long ago there was a master mountain climber. That man would climb very tall mountains. But no one had ever seen those mountains, so they couldn't understand how amazing it was. So the man continued to climb even higher mountains. The next day and the next. This way he could make everyone know how amazing he was. And finally, the man began to live on the mountain and became an evil thing.

[Calax]

I don't think that Baley is 26.

 

And I don't think the AG's office is going to get their hands on the guy.

[Musopticon?]

Long ago there was a master mountain climber. That man would climb very tall mountains. But no one had ever seen those mountains, so they couldn't understand how amazing it was. So the man continued to climb even higher mountains. The next day and the next. This way he could make everyone know how amazing he was. And finally, the man began to live on the mountain and became an evil thing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

-Samurai Champloo, right?

 

 

 

Am I the only one who thinks 54 years is a bit excessive?

Edited December 2, 2006 by Musopticon?

[Weiser_Cain]

Probably not, but I say you're lucky to get that hacking a foreign government's computers.

[Aram]

Probably not, but I say you're lucky to get that hacking a foreign government's computers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

James Bond has killed at least a dozen people for doing the same thing.

[Diamond]

For those who are interested: White hat hackers vs black hat hackers.

 

 

And it was very unwise of NASA to expose their internal network so much.

They had it coming and now they are just pissed.

 

 

 

PS

And Baley is not an engineer.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Am I the only one who thinks 54 years is a bit excessive?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Its more than excessive, its plain nuts. The guy is getting what youd get for taking an axe and chopping up an entire family, except all he did was push a few buttons on his keyboard.

 

The punishment should be relative to the severity of the crime. 5 months in a low-security prison would be more fitting.

[Diamond]

They didn't even face any real data damages, they just "could not rely upon the integrity of the data on the hacked computers" (ever heard about backup? duh). Nevertheless, it was really stupid of them to expose any machines with important data to the public network.

[Dark_Raven]

They should hire him. Obviously their system is flawed and what better way to improve their security is to hire him and he can fix the flaws in their system. Then use him to hack into a hostile country's main frame and get information.

[Diamond]

That is naive view that could work for a cheesy movie "Hackers", I suppose.

[Dark_Raven]

Not really. One must look at the big picture and exploit the uses of individuals.

[Diamond]

The point being that implementing computer security properly today takes more than just one "super-hacker genius dude" who can magically patch up all the holes. Especially for a large organizations such as NASA. Security is more of an organizational issue than a technical one.

[Skynet]

Its more than excessive, its plain nuts. The guy is getting what youd get for taking an axe and chopping up an entire family, except all he did was push a few buttons on his keyboard.

 

The punishment should be relative to the severity of the crime. 5 months in a low-security prison would be more fitting.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

54 years is the maximum sentence, which I doubt he'd serve.

 

I don't know much about hacking, but the below suggests he did some significant damage, so I wouldn't say he just pushed a few buttons.

 

"As a result of the intrusion and loss of data, which went on for about two years, NASA reportedly suffered $1.36 million in losses. The DoE and the Navy together reported a loss of near $100,000."

[Weiser_Cain]

They should secure their computers. They don't need him and they shouldn't hire him, they should drop a shuttle on him.

[Diamond]

I don't know much about hacking, but the below suggests he did some significant damage, so I wouldn't say he just pushed a few buttons.

 

"As a result of the intrusion and loss of data, which went on for about two years, NASA reportedly suffered $1.36 million in losses. The DoE and the Navy together reported a loss of near $100,000."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They didn't lose any data (as far as I can get from the article), they just state that they can't risk using the data on compromised computers, because it is too important. Hence said data is "lost".

[Laozi]

-Samurai Champloo, right?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Yeppers

[CSI: Nihilus]

Amazing...I think government should hire him when he comes out from the jail.

[~Di]

Heh, I'm glad they got him. I hope he serves the entire sentence. Hackers suck. That is all.

[kumquatq3]

Am I the only one who thinks 54 years is a bit excessive?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It likely would be viewed as excessive, which is exactly why that won't happen.

 

He can get 54 in theory, however due to excessive laws he won't. Or at least it won't stand under review.

[kumquatq3]

I don't know much about hacking, but the below suggests he did some significant damage, so I wouldn't say he just pushed a few buttons.

 

"As a result of the intrusion and loss of data, which went on for about two years, NASA reportedly suffered $1.36 million in losses. The DoE and the Navy together reported a loss of near $100,000."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They didn't lose any data (as far as I can get from the article), they just state that they can't risk using the data on compromised computers, because it is too important. Hence said data is "lost".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, it clearly says: "As a result of the intrusion and loss of data"

[Hildegard]

Did he cause any core meltdowns...? )

 

[kumquatq3]

Did he cause any core meltdowns...? )

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Why are you talking in third person? :ph34r:

[Hildegard]

Why are you talking in third person? :ph34r:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Darn....I did it again.

[Diamond]

I don't know much about hacking, but the below suggests he did some significant damage, so I wouldn't say he just pushed a few buttons.

 

"As a result of the intrusion and loss of data, which went on for about two years, NASA reportedly suffered $1.36 million in losses. The DoE and the Navy together reported a loss of near $100,000."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They didn't lose any data (as far as I can get from the article), they just state that they can't risk using the data on compromised computers, because it is too important. Hence said data is "lost".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, it clearly says: "As a result of the intrusion and loss of data"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In a written statement, the U.S. Attorney's Office said "NASA, the Energy Department, and the Navy could not rely upon the integrity of the data on the hacked computers. Therefore, systems had to be rebuilt, and scientists and engineers had to manually communicate with spacecraft."

Hence the expenses.

 

 

Besides, hackers don't just destroy data because they can, I highly doubt he's done anything deliberately to destroy the data if he is a white hat hacker. "Loss" of data can be interpreted in many ways.

Edited December 3, 2006 by Diamond