Hackers – The two most dangerous hackers in the world who stole in 2016. Millions of users data from the technology taxi riding company Uber have been busted. Now they indicted on various hacking charges. They infarction related to a data breach at an online education portal name’s Lynda.
They name are: Vasile Mereacre, a citizen of Canada who is residence is in Toronto. Following another one name’s Brandon Glover. Whom is a resident from the state of Florida. Both people indicted earlier this month in a Florida federal court. They charged for federal hacking and extortion for stealing data on over 55,000 Lynda users’ accounts so far.
The unsealed indictment document stipulated, the FBI was considering extraditing Mereacre from Canada. When the federal bureau of investigation learned. That later on the suspected hacker was planning to fly to Miami on October 16.
From this piece of crucial information, the FBI agents were waiting for Mereacre. Eventually, he has easily arrested by FBI agents once he landed. After incarcerated, he made an first appearance in court before the indictment unsealed.
The indictment accuses the two alleged hackers. For obtained tens of thousands of Lynda user credentials from a technology company-owned Amazon web server.
In the verdict, the prosecutors accused the two experienced hackers of “exerting control over the accounts to get money from LinkedIn.”
When they get there the used a burner Protonmail email account. After that, they merge the two emailed LinkedIn and HackerOne. This the bug bounty program used by Lynda, to show the breach.
“I was able to use backups upon backups,” one of the defendants wrote in their email. They also claimed to have usernames, passwords, payment data, and backend code.
When an unnamed LinkedIn executive emailed back inviting the alleged hackers to its HackerOne bug bounty program, they said to “keep in mind, we expect a big payment as this was hard work for us.”
The two released on a bond, and they are not permitted to use the Internet. The case is now being heard in a California court.
The accusations are nearly identical to the circumstances around Uber’s breach, just months earlier.
Remembered Uber disclosed the breach of 57 million worldwide users data including 4.1 million drivers sensitive information almost a year later.
Uber company accused of covering up the breach, as a result, two former senior Uber executives have been fired for negligence.
After paying the two hackers $100,000 through its bug bounty to destroy the data that they obtained but without notifying customers or regulators.
The information became public by accident later on when later on Uber’s chief information security officer John Flynn told lawmakers at a Senate Commerce Committee public hearing in February that the two hackers were from Florida and Canada.
From this moment to today Uber declined to comment the incident fail. The hackers gained access to an Amazon web server, owned by Uber, using credentials that were mistakenly left in a GitHub repository by a Uber engineer.
According to an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, the hackers downloaded more than a dozen files including a backup file containing Uber customer data.
It’s not known what was said in the disclosure to Uber, but the FTC claimed the hackers were “demanding” a six-figure payout.
The breach was one of several scandals to plague the ridesharing company and the eventual departure of founder Travis Kalanick from the company.
Since the data security leaks, Uber agreed to 20 years of privacy audits in a settlement with the FTC. The company was later ordered to pay $148 million in its breach settlement.
None representative from the Justice Department accepts any request to comment about the case. Nevertheless of defender Michael Ryan. Mereacre’s attorney, Christopher Lyon. Nobody wants to say anything public or comment about these Hackers and their case either.
However, LinkedIn spokesperson Mary-Katharine Juric said: “We appreciate the ongoing work by the FBI to pursue those believed responsible for the 2016 breach of Lynda user information. We will continue to engage with law enforcement as this case develops.”
Next court appearance date for these hackers is November 2018.
