Tag Archive for: Swiss

National Digest: Swiss hacker charged with computer intrusion, identity theft in U.S.

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Federal prosecutors said Thursday that Kottmann, of Lucerne, Switzerland, was initially charged in September. The range of allegations date back to 2019 and involve the alleged theft of credentials and data and publishing source code and proprietary information from more than 100 entities, including companies and government agencies.

Kottmann has described the most recent leak of camera footage taken from customers of California security-camera provider Verkada as part of a “hacktivist” cause of exposing the dangers of mass surveillance. Kottmann, who uses they/them pronouns, told the Associated Press in an online chat last week that they found the credentials needed to enter the site exposed on the open Internet.

Kottmann didn’t return an online request for comment. Swiss lawyer Marcel Bosonnet said he is representing Kottmann but declined further comment Friday.

Swiss authorities said they had raided Kottmann’s home in Lucerne late last week at the request of U.S. authorities. Prosecutors said the FBI recently seized a website domain that Kottmann used to publish hacked data online.

It’s not clear if U.S. prosecutors will to try to extradite Kottmann, who remains in Lucerne and was notified of the pending charges.

Legislature closes after coronavirus outbreak

The Idaho Legislature voted Friday to shut down for several weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak.

Lawmakers in the state House and Senate moved to recess until April 6 with significant unfinished business, including setting budgets and pushing through a huge income tax cut.

At least six of the 70 House members tested positive for the coronavirus in the last week, and there are fears a variant of it is in the Capitol.

“The House has had several positive tests, so it is probably prudent that the House take a step back for a couple weeks until things calm down and it’s not hot around here for covid,” House Majority Leader Mike Moyle said before the votes.

Five of those who tested positive are Republicans and one is Democrat. Another Republican lawmaker is self-isolating. The chamber has a supermajority of 58 Republicans, most of whom rarely or never wear masks. All of the state’s Democratic lawmakers typically…

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Feds indict Swiss hacker behind massive Verkada breach

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The feds have filed criminal charges against a prolific Swiss hacker who took credit for breaking into more than 150,000 security cameras run by a Silicon Valley startup.

A Seattle grand jury indicted Tillie Kottmann, the 21-year-old hacktivist who claimed to be behind last week’s massive breach of Verkada, which allowed hackers to peep on prisons, schools, hospitals and major companies such as Tesla.

Known by the monikers “deletescape” and “tillie crimew,” Kottmann has hacked dozens of companies and government agencies and published private data from more than 100 entities on the internet since 2019, prosecutors say.

While it doesn’t mention the Verkada attack, the Thursday indictment focuses on eight hacks that Kottmann, who uses they/them pronouns, carried out from February 2020 to January of this year.

The targets included six private companies, a federal contractor and the Washington State Department of Transportation, the feds said. Prosecutors didn’t name any of the firms, but descriptions in the indictment match Kottmann’s past statements about their hacks of Japanese automaker Nissan and computer-chip giant Intel.

Prosecutors noted that Kottmann openly boasted about some of the hacks in Twitter posts, like one from May 2020 that said, “i love helping companies open their source code.”

The feds also claim Kottmann and others promoted their hacking and made money “by designing and selling clothing and paraphernalia related to computer hacking activity and anti-intellectual-property ideology.”

Kottmann is still in Lucerne, Switzerland, but has been made aware of the charges, which came about a week after Swiss authorities carried out search warrants related to the alleged hacks, according to the feds.

Kottmann didn’t immediately respond to a Twitter message seeking comment. But they recently told Forbes they expected “consequences” for their hacking, which aimed to expose poor security at powerful entities.

“I don’t want to help companies,” Kottmann told the outlet. “The whole hacker thing, in my opinion should be more about trying to improve the world.”

That idealism, however, hasn’t…

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Justice Department Charges Swiss Hacker With Computer Intrusion, Identity Theft

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Justice Department Charges Swiss Hacker With Computer Intrusion, Identity Theft | KTTS



Posted By: Nathaniel Polley


March 19, 2021 @ 7:48 am

Local News, News

The Justice Department has charged a Swiss hacker with computer intrusion and identity theft, just over a week after the hacker took credit for helping to break into the online systems of a U.S. security-camera startup.

An indictment against 21-year-old Till Kottmann was brought Thursday by a grand jury in the Western District of Washington. Federal prosecutors said Thursday that Kottmann, of Lucerne, Switzerland, was initially charged in September on a range of allegations dating back to 2019 involving stealing credentials and data and publishing source code and proprietary information from more than 100 entities on the web.

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Swiss hacker indicted after claiming credit for breaching Nissan, Intel

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By Paresh Dave

(Reuters) – A Swiss computer hacker who has claimed credit for helping steal or distribute proprietary data from Nissan Motor Co, Intel Corp and most recently security camera startup Verkada was indicted on Thursday, U.S. prosecutors announced.

Till Kottmann, 21, remains in Lucerne and has been notified about the pending charges, the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle said in a statement.

Kottmann did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the announcement of the indictment, which came after midnight in Lucerne.

Kottmann over the last year allegedly working with a group accessed internal files belonging to at least eight parties, including six unnamed companies, the Washington State Department of Transportation and an undisclosed federal agency, according to the indictment.

“Kottmann, and others, accessed protected computers, including ‘git’ and source code repositories as well as internal infrastructure, through use of stolen access keys, credentials and exploits,” the indictment said.

It added Kottmann overall hacked dozens of businesses and government agencies and purportedly published leaked data from over 100 entities.

In social media posts and on a website, Kottmann allegedly shared some of the information and took credit for breaches, the document said.

Dates and descriptions in the indictment related to two of the alleged hacks match Kottmann’s past statements about Intel and Nissan.

Intel declined to comment. Nissan and Verkada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This month, Kottmann shared with Reuters recordings of live and archived surveillance footage Kottmann obtained from inside a Tesla factory, an Alabama jail and other facilities by gaining access to Verkada’s administrative system.

Prosecutors accused Kottmann of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse.

It was not immediately clear if or when Kottmann would be brought to the U.S. to face charges. Swiss authorities raided Kottmann’s residence last week.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; additional reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)

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