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Former ADT Technician In North Texas Pleads Guilty To Hacking Home Security Cams, Faces Up To 5 Years In Prison

January 21, 2021/in Computer Security

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A home security technician has pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking into customers’ video feeds, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Prerak Shah.

Telesforo Aviles, a 35-year-old former ADT employee, pleaded guilty to computer fraud on Thursday, Jan. 21, in federal court.

“This defendant, entrusted with safeguarding customers’ homes, instead intruded on their most intimate moments,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah. “We are glad to hold him accountable for this disgusting betrayal of trust.”

“The defendant used his position of employment to illegally breach the privacy of numerous people. The FBI works with our law enforcement partners to thoroughly investigate all cyber intrusions and hold criminals accountable for their actions,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno. “Cyber intrusions do not only affect businesses, but also members of the public. We encourage everyone to practice cyber hygiene with all their connected devices by reviewing authorized users and routinely changing passwords. If you become the victim of a cybercrime, please contact the FBI through ic3.gov or 1-800-CALL FBI.”

According to plea papers, Aviles admits that contrary to company policy, he routinely added his personal email address to customers’ “ADT Pulse” accounts, giving himself real-time access to the video feeds from their homes.

In some instances, he claimed he needed to add himself temporarily in order to “test” the system; in other instances, he added himself without their knowledge.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Aviles took note of which homes had attractive women, then repeatedly logged into these customers’ accounts in order to view their footage for sexual gratification, he admits.

Plea papers indicate he watched numerous videos of naked women and couples engaging in sexual activity inside their homes.

Over a four and a half year period, Aviles secretly accessed roughly 200 customer accounts more than 9,600 times without their consent, he admits.

Aviles, who waived indictment and was charged via an information, now faces up to five years in federal prison.

The Federal…

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Hacker Pleads Guilty to Building Internet-of-Things Army for Cyberattacks

December 11, 2020/in Computer Security

A young hacker has admitted to attempting to take down Sony’s Playstation Network gaming platform by hijacking “internet of things” (IoT) devices after reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Judge Landya B. McCafferty, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, accepted the hacker’s guilty plea on computer fraud and abuse charges during a closed door hearing, according to a Wednesday news release from the Department of Justice. Because the individual was a juvenile at the time of the offense, their identity is being withheld in accordance with the Juvenile Delinquency Act.

Officials say that the hacker conspired with others to create a “botnet” by taking control of unspecified IoT devices—items that can include video cameras, recorders, devices found in “smart homes” like appliances or anything else with an online connection.

The botnet was used to target the Playstation network on October 21, 2016, with the goal of knocking it offline for an extended period of time with a DDoS, or “distributed denial of service” attack, which hackers often use to crash website access for legitimate users by overwhelming a site with massive amounts of traffic sent from multiple sources.

'Internet of Things' Hacker Pleads Guilty — This image illustrates mobile controls for a “smart home,” which can include some of the online devices that form the “internet of things.”
AndreyPopov/Getty

The impact of the attack was not limited to Playstation because it focused on a domain name resolver, a computer used to process internet addresses, that was used by multiple entities. In addition to Sony, sites owned by Twitter, Amazon, PayPal, Netflix, Tumblr and Southern New Hampshire University were also blocked or only intermittently accessible for several hours.

The attack resulted in financial damages to all those affected, with Sony estimating a loss of $2.7 million in net revenue. In addition to the Playstation attack, officials say that the hacker and unspecified co-conspirators participated in several other attacks on computers, “specifically targeting those belonging to online gamers or gaming platforms,” between 2015 and November 2016. McCafferty is expected to issue a sentence to the guilty individual on…

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Teen hacker pleads guilty in cyberattack that targeted PlayStation, Netflix, Amazon

December 10, 2020/in Internet Security

Teen hacker pleads guilty in cyberattack that targeted PlayStation, Netflix, Amazon

A teenager pleaded guilty in a New Hampshire court in a cyberattack that targeted PlayStation, Amazon, Netflix and several other companies, which resulted in a massive disruption to the internet in October 2016.The teen, who was not named because of their age, admitted conspiring to commit computer fraud and abuse by operating a botnet and by intentionally damaging a computer. The teen will be sentenced on Jan. 7.According to federal investigators, from approximately 2015 until November of 2016, the teen worked with others to create and operate online botnets to launch cyberattacks, specifically targeting online gamers or gaming platforms to take those computers offline altogether or otherwise significantly impair their functionality. These attacks are often referred to as “Distributed Denial of Service” or “DDoS” attacks, investigators said.The teen and others created a botnet that targeted “Internet-of-Things” devices, such as internet-connected video cameras and recorders, and turned them into bots to be used to launch DDoS attacks, investigators said. According to court documents, on Oct. 21, 2016, the teen and others used the botnet to launch several DDoS attacks aimed to take the Sony PlayStation Network’s gaming platform offline for a sustained period. The DDoS attacks impacted a domain name resolver, New Hampshire-based Dyn, Inc., which caused websites, including those pertaining to Sony, Twitter, Amazon, PayPal, Tumblr, Netflix and Southern New Hampshire University, to become either completely inaccessible, or accessible only intermittently for several hours that day, investigators said. Sony said its losses from the attack resulted in $2.7 million in net revenue.

MANCHESTER, N.H. —

A teenager pleaded guilty in a New Hampshire court in a cyberattack that targeted PlayStation, Amazon, Netflix and several other companies, which resulted in a massive disruption to the internet in October…

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