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Five Men Arrested in LexisNexis Data Theft
An anonymous reader writes "Five men aged 19-24 were arrested last week in connection with the reported theft last year of some 310,000 personal records from database giant LexisNexis. The Washington Post reports that some of the individuals were also involved in the theft and online posting of revealing photos from socialite Paris Hilton's cell phone. All are being charged with 'aggravated identity theft,' which carries a mandatory 2-year jail sentence for those found guilty."
Only a two year jail sentence? That seems extremely light, considering that once you have your identity stolen, it can easily take over two years to put everything back in order, especially if the guy who did it isn't caught. That's more like a slap on the wrist then a real punishment, and I don't see it as a deterrent in commiting in this crime.
Think about it, very few people who commit identify theft ever get caught, and in addition, you can make a lot of money or get a lot of free stuff while it lasts, and if you get busted, you're out in two years and you can do it all over again.
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Sad to say, which brought about the investigation. 31000 peoples personal data or Paris Hilton's contact list. Unfortunately, it was probably the latter.
I think LexisNexis is more amoral and unethical than the hackers.
Blar.
How do we know that they stole the photos? It could have been someone else that just gave it to them and they put it online. It seems to be that the police are eager to arrest these guys.
Fallout 3 will suck.
I hardly believe they would have been arrested if they purchased the info from LexisNexis. This wasn't identity theft, it was digital shoplifting.
But according to interviews washingtonpost.com had with at least three of the accused, the group accessed information on Hilton, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)
Why has he trademarked his name?
I imagine (and actually support the idea) that not only will they get prison time for their actions, but that Ms Hilton will be suing these gentleman into the Stone Age.
I'm sure she has a rather high powered cadre of lawyers, and if she doesn't, I'm sure her father has a few who would be more than willing to take vengeance on these guys for sullying her good... er... decent... er... human name.
Did anyone else think that they were all arrested in last year's car model?
Oh, I guess you'd had to have RTFA. Nevermind.
Author of Enyo: Up and Running from O'Reilly Media
Movies like "Hackers" glamorize this stuff, making it seem cool to pull these sorts of stunts. Although, the parents who raised these dudes played an even greater role, in the fact that they did not teach their kids any ethics.
I hope to god someone cites these guys to congress as a reason *against* data retention legislation. It's not big brother we should be worried about, it's his jackass cousins...
fortune -s -o
...when hacking into a computer system automatically got you a job working for the company you hacked into?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 SU CK IT MP AA
This news doesnt matter, were all screwed in 4 minutes.
Since morals seem to be universally attributed to religious codes...perhaps it was disingenous of me to do so.
revised: LexisNexis is 'more wrong' than the hackers.
burp.
Blar.
How did they find these people?
Does (R) "restricted rights" have any use outside it's ability to limit U.S. Government usage of software?
A quick google search seems to suggest that is all (R) is good for.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
This is not about privacy, but about information, which, in the prevailing Slashdot opinion, "wants to be free".
So I'm surprised, no one is outraged at LexisNexis collecting (and selling) these data in the first place.
The thieves are thieves, of course, and LexisNexis is not doing anything illegal, but sympathy for them is something, I just can't master...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Shouldn't be too bad.
Once everyone knows they're the ones responsible for the stuff they've been wankin off to, nobody will mess with them.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Seisint, the Florida Lexis/Nexis subsidiary that these jerks stole access to, was started by Hank Asher, the Iran/Contra cocaine smuggler. Just remember that those criminals have access to all that personal data, even if they do pay for it legally.
--
make install -not war
For the younger crowd...
If you live in an apartment complex managed by a corporation and you live in a county with fast-track eviction, like Orange and Los Angeles and many others..you probably already know you have to pay by the 4th or you get a 3-day notice to pay or quit and a $50-$100 fine. On the 10th, their accounting person pushes a button and all of the accounts that haven't paid --in certified funds-- get FAXed to an attorney chop-shop that immediately adds a $300 fee and a couple days later files an Unlawful Detainer action against you. That filing immediately goes on your LexisNexis report --forever and ever. It never comes off. Not in 10 years, not in 50 years. Even when your bank finally clears your deposit and you come walking into your landlord's office on the 11th and say "here's your rent, $100 fine and $300 attorney's fee", the landlord picks up the phone, taps an auto-dial button and declares "this is Bee at the Pink Taco Apartments, we have a pay-n-stay on unit #3920...yeah, that's right, ok thanks." --your life is still ruined. No, LexisNexis is not used to grant credit. No the attempted eviction will never hit your credit report. But the first and subsequent time someone is thinking about filing a lawsuit or counter-suit against you, for example during a car accident, or during a dispute about a real estate commission when you go to buy a house, or some technical work you've delivered working as a contractor, or maybe a prior employer investigating a theft that occured around the time you left --they all get your LexisNexis report, which is linked together by your current and previous addresses. They see a couple of Unlawful Detainer lawsuits and they don't even bother checking to see they were withdrawn a few days after being filed --they just think, you're a broke-ass trailer-trash bustout and if their lawsuit is more strategically motivated than financially motivated (for example, suing you before you sue them), they open up on your but where they otherwise might not. The public record is what it is, but there is no g'damned reason for LexisNexis to show dismissed Unlawful Detainer lawsuits on people's reports for 10, 15 even 40 (entire commercially productive lifetime) years.
Not much of a hack though. Paris's password was the name of her little rat dog. I better post as AC...
Nerdiest. Crime. Ever.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
They are also pretty much unregulated - they are not a credit bureau, so they do not fall under these regulations.
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs6b-SpecReports.
When Presidents got oral sex and lied about it, and mishandled the Middle East so brilliantly we all had to wait in line for gas. Oh man, I wish it was the 70s all over again.
...yes sir