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Feds: Sailor Hacked Navy Network While Aboard Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

Posted by samzenpus on from the to-the-hacking-station dept.

ClownP (1315157) writes in with this story about a hacker who did some of his work while aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier. " A former sailor assigned to a US nuclear aircraft carrier and another man have been charged with hacking the computer systems of 30 public and private organizations, including the US Navy, the Department of Homeland Security, AT&T, and Harvard University. Nicholas Paul Knight, 27, of Chantilly, VA, and Daniel Trenton Krueger, 20, of Salem, IL, were members of a crew that hacked protected computers as part of a scheme to steal personal identities and obstruct justice, according to a criminal complaint unsealed earlier this week in a US District Court in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The gang, which went by the name Team Digi7al, allegedly took to Twitter to boast of the intrusions and publicly disclose sensitive data that was taken. The hacking spree lasted from April 2012 to June 2013, prosecutors said."

14 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Not in trouble for hacking... by HangingChad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    “Essentially I am in trouble for posting all of the stuff on Twitter,”

    You're in trouble for bragging about it. It's amazing how many criminals get caught because they can't keep their mouth shut. To me that seems like Crime 101. The first rule of black hat hacking is you don't talk about black hat hacking.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:Not in trouble for hacking... by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful
      To keep a secret perfectly safe, your odds of success are best if you are the only one who knows it happened and you tell no one.

      If you trust someone else with the secret, you are forced to be realistic about the likelihood it will be spread further, since you, yourself couldn't be trusted with it.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:Not in trouble for hacking... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's the bummer about hacking, you can't brag. If you're black hat, you get caught, if you're white hat, the NDA hits you.

      So, kids, hacking ain't cool. Even if you hack the worlds best secured fortress, it's like doing the once in a lifetime stunt that nobody will believe you did but you forgot to record it.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Not in trouble for hacking... by StormReaver · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You're in trouble for bragging about it.

      âoeEssentially I am in trouble for posting all of the stuff on Twitter,â

      And now you're going to prison because you just confessed to it all on public forums.

      Again.

      Your trial is going to be very short, and your sentence is going to be very long.

      It's said that there is no accounting for stupidity, but this is natural selection at work.

    4. Re:Not in trouble for hacking... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      The first rule of black hat hacking is you don't talk about black hat hacking.

      Does telling people not to talk about it constitute talking about it?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    5. Re:Not in trouble for hacking... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      There was a kind of bleach & its slogan was "Kills all known germs - DEAD!".

      My gran always used to reply "It's the unknown ones that I'm worried about!"

      No, I'm not related to Donald Rumsfeld.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    6. Re:Not in trouble for hacking... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      "Bragging", in a professional setting, means going around conventions and holding panels.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Not in trouble for hacking... by mysidia · · Score: 2

      That's not bragging. If you sound like you're bragging, your credibility is diminished.

      It's bragging dressed up in a different way. Yes, people in a professional environment are sensitive to the manner in which you boast about your accomplishments, but at a fundamental level, companies and individuals get hired or not based on what they choose to boast about.

      Kids call it bragging, Pros call it their portfolio, and corporations call it posting their success stories and case studies (which Marketing writes up for distribution to prospective customers).

  2. Hang 'im High! by ReallyEvilCanine · · Score: 2

    Sensationalism. Propaganda. We'll be sure to think of the children as ew teach the tairists a lesson.

    "...aboard a NUCLEAR aircraft carrier..."
    Because the US also has a bunch of coal-fired carriers and a couple of old-fashioned pedal-powered ones?

    HACKED network... while ABOARD
    So... he accessed other networks. While he was working or when he had a rack pass and time to kill?

    1. Re:Hang 'im High! by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 2

      The US also has a bunch of commissioned diesel-powered ships that can carry and operate aircraft (Osprey-class). They are called amphibious transport warships, and have a displacement similar to that of WWII carriers. So the sarcasm is a little over the top.

      No. It is not. An aircraft carrier is a very specific type of ship and the US has none that are not nuclear powered. You don't call a Coast Guard ship that has a helicopter on it an aircraft carrier. Nor would you call a private yacht or corporate vessel with a helicopter an aircraft carrier. You said it yourself, the diesel ships with Osprey's are amphibious transports.

    2. Re:Hang 'im High! by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      An aircraft carrier is a very specific type of ship and the US has none that are not nuclear powered.

      I was going to say you're wrong, but the John F. Kennedy's been mothballed. I must have slept through that.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Nuclear is irrelevant by Gothmolly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Way to sensationalize.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
  4. Not to a jury by Etherwalk · · Score: 2

    Way to sensationalize.

    In the United States, prosecutors have the job of sensationalizing in order to get a conviction and longer sentences. They are spinning a story they design out of the facts, so they pick the facts which make someone seem as guilty as possible and of as big a crime as possible.

    The defense attorney's job is to whittle that down. The jury has the job of guessing the truth from two competing false narratives (the prosecution and the defense). Only the judge can ask witnesses questions impartially, and he or she generally doesn't do that a lot.

  5. Damn right. by westlake · · Score: 2

    Sensationalism. Propaganda. We'll be sure to think of the children as ew teach the tairists a lesson.

    Think about it.

    Knight was an active duty enlisted member of the Navy assigned to the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. He worked as a systems administrator in the carrier's nuclear reactor department. He is accused of conducting some of his unlawful hacking while aboard.

    Feds: Sailor hacked Navy network while aboard nuclear aircraft carrier

    That cuts a little too close to the bone.

    It gets better:

    ''Essentially I am in trouble for posting all of the stuff on Twitter,''Knight told ABC News by email in his first interview. ''Although a lot of people are saying I was the leader of some crime organizations that was out to get people which wasn't true. Just a group of people that were dumb and did dumb things.''

    In criminal information filed Monday, prosecutors allege that while Knight served in the Navy as a systems administrator in the nuclear reactor department of the USS Harry S. Truman, he was also leading a double life as a self-proclaimed ''nuclear black hat'' and the leader of a hacking group called Team Digi7al that stole or attempted to steal confidential or private information and post it online.

    After the attacks, the group then bragged about their accomplishments on Twitter, with Knight acting as the main ''publicist,'' according to the Department of Justice.

    The court filing noted that three alleged members of the group were minors when they joined.

    Prosecutor Ryan Souders, who is involved in the case, told ABC News that generally when a suspect is charged in a criminal information filing, rather than an indictment, that means the defense has indicated they will not contest the charges.

    Alleged Navy Hacker Says His Group Just 'Did Dumb Things'

    I