Security

Nigerian Sent to Prison for Hacking NASA Computer

18 months in prison for deploying malware on a NASA computer

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

6th of May 2008, 14:27 GMT

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Hacking the soap seems to be the only available hacking activity...

Hacking computers has always been an illegal activity and, even if attackers risked harsh punishments, they continued to launch attacks on computers from all

over the world. However, some of them get caught and once it happens, they probably regret all they did during their hacking "job". This is the case of a Nigerian hacker who was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he admitted having hacked a computer belonging to a NASA employee. The damages? He stole passwords, banking information and approximately 25,000 screenshots captured while the employee was working on her computer, Network World informs today.

The 22-year-old hacker pleaded guilty said that the tried to hack hundreds of women and he had no idea that this one belonged to a NASA employee. Just like in many other cases, the hacker attempted to drop a sample of spyware which could be then used to access the computer and conduct all kinds of malicious activities.

However, the way he managed to break into the computer is quite interesting. According to Network World, Akeem Adejumo claimed he was Texan and used fake information to communicate with the NASA employee. After several weeks of talking, he sent an email in which he inserted an infected file supposed to be dropped on her computer. Once the file, supposed to be a photo, was downloaded on the computer, the hacker entered it.

The same source reports that the hacker could access all kinds of details, starting with the Social Security number and ending with the driver license information. However, the investigators said no critical information was stolen because the NASA employee only had access to a limited amount of information. "Fortunately, the victim did not have access to sensitive information. Some of her work product was taken, [but] it was mostly her personal information," the investigator commented according to Network World.

TAGS:

nigeria | hack | attack | security | nasa

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