This is the second round of charges brought by the US government against the British man

Feb 28, 2014 13:24 GMT  ·  By

Lauri Love, a British man previously accused of hacking into numerous US government systems, has now been charged for breaching the US Federal Reserve’s servers.

According to the FBI, between October 2012 and February 2013, Love worked with other hackers from around the world to gain unauthorized access to the servers of the Federal Reserve. They leveraged an SQL Injection vulnerability to gain access to names, email addresses, and phone numbers of Fed users.

Love is said to have made the information public by posting it on previously compromised websites.

He has been charged with one count of computer hacking and one count of aggravated identity theft. For the computer hacking charge, he faces 10 years in prison, while the identity theft charge carries a sentence of 2 years in jail.

“As alleged, Lauri Love is a sophisticated hacker who broke into Federal Reserve computers, stole sensitive personal information, and made it widely available, leaving people vulnerable to malicious use of that information,” said Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“We place a high priority on the investigation and prosecution of hackers who intrude into our infrastructure and threaten the personal security of our citizens.”

Back in October 2013, shortly after being arrested by the UK’s national Crime Agency’s Cyber Crime Unit, Love was accused of hacking into the systems of the US Army, the Missile Defense Agency, NASA, the military’s Plans and Analysis Integration Office, and the Environment Protection Agency.

In October, Love was charged with one count of accessing a US department or agency computer without authorization and one count of conspiracy to access a US department or agency computer without authorization.

At the time, authorities revealed that the alleged hacker and his co-conspirators exploited SQL Injection and Cold Fusion vulnerabilities to gain access to data. Their attacks were planned on IRC channels.

“Fortunately, Love underestimated the level of sophistication and dedication maintained by the FBI Cyber Division to vigorously investigate and identify Love’s criminal hacking and identity theft,” said George Venizelos, the assistant director in charge of the New York Office of the FBI.

“Cyber crime knows no boundaries and justice will not stop at international borders. The FBI is committed to working with private and public entities to stop computer intrusions and prevent hackers from harming victim companies and individuals. We thank the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for its assistance in this investigation,” he added.