Lauri Love, a United Kingdom man, was charged and arrested for allegedly hacking into the U.S. Army, NASA, and other government networks, according to reports on Monday.
Love, a 28-year-old from Stradishall, England, was arrested and charged for the alleged stealing of information pertaining to U.S. government employees, including members of the military, said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey in a statement.
He accessed the networks of U.S. Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other networks.
Love and others went into the networks via “back doors” and “shells” to take the data, prosecutors allege.
Love was charged with a count of accessing a U.S. department or agency computer without permission and a count of conspiracy.
Love‘s attacked was designed to “hack into the computer networks of the government victims and steal large quantities of non-public data . . . to disrupt the operations and infrastructure of the United States government,” said Fishman.
“According to the indictment, Lauri Love and conspirators hacked into thousands of networks, including many belonging to the United States military and other government agencies,” the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Paul Fishman, stated. “As part of their alleged scheme, they stole military data and personal identifying information belonging to servicemen and women. Such conduct endangers the security of our country and is an affront to those who serve.”
Love and fellow conspirators allegedly hacked into thousands of computer systems between October 2012 and October 2013.
“Computer intrusions present significant risks to national security and our military operations,” Daniel Andrews, director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Computer Crime Investigative Unit, said in a release. “The borderless nature of Internet-based crime underscores the need for robust law enforcement alliances across the globe. We appreciate the bilateral support of the National Crime Agency in bringing cyber criminals to justice.”
