Hackers Sentenced for Conspiring in Comcast Redirect

Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts Speaking at the Los Angeles Convention Center on May 11, in Los Angeles, California. Two men were sentenced to 18 months in prison on Sept. 24, after conspiring to hack Comcast. (Angela Weiss/Getty Images )

After conspiring to hack Comcast, two men were sentenced to 18 months in prison on Sept. 24, announced the Department of Justice (DoJ).

The two hackers are Christopher Allen Lewis, a.k.a. “EBK,” 20, of Newark, Delaware, and Michael Paul Nebel, a.k.a. “Slacker,” 28, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Both pleaded guilty to the charges.

The pair was associated with hacker group Kryogeniks, and on May 28, 2008, Lewis and Nebel redirected all traffic from www.Comcast.com to their own websites.

Users who tried to access the Comcast website were greeted with a message reading “KRYOGENIKS Defiant and EBB RoXed COMCAST sHouTz to VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven,” according to the DoJ.

At the time of the redirect, Comcast’s website was getting an estimated 5 million visitors each day. The hack cost Comcast an estimated $89,578.13, and an FBI investigation was launched not long after. Lewis and Nebel were ordered to pay fines of $89,578.13 each.