Devon residents admits trying to sell access to computer networks
A 23-year-old Chester County resident will spend 18 months in prison for his role in a scheme to hack into computer networks and sell access to those networks, federal prosecutors said in a news release.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U .S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts made the announcement after the sentencing of Andrew J. Miller by U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf in the District of Massachusetts on Wednesday, Dec. 11, the release said .
Miller, a resident of Devon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and computer fraud on Aug. 26. According to court documents, from 2008 to 2011, Miller remotely hacked into a variety of computers located in Massachusetts and elsewhere, and, in some instances, surreptitiously installed “backdoors” into those computers. These “backdoors” were designed to provide future administrator-level, or “root,” access to the compromised computers, documents said.
Miller obtained login credentials to the compromised computers, documents said. He and his co-conspirators then sold access to these backdoors, as well as other login credentials, that would allow unauthorized people entry into various commercial, education and government computer networks. For example, Miller attempted to sell access for $50,000 to two supercomputers at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Oakland, Ca., that were part of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, documents said.
Prosecutors, who requested an 18-month prison term, called Miller, a 2007 graduate of the Church Farm School, a “sophisticated and compulsive” hacker interested in earning money and bragging rights, documents said. In an online conversation with a co-defendant, Miller said he had broken into 50 networks, including American Express, Google, Harvard University, and the Department of Energy, documents said. In 2004, Secret Service agents executed a search warrant on Miller’s residence in connection with his writing malicious software programs; however, the case was handled by juvenile authorities because of Miller’s age, documents said.
In seeking leniency for his client, defense attorney Nino V. Tinari referenced his remorse and cooperation and presented psychological reports indicating that Miller suffers from depression and anxiety, documents said.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Bookbinder of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the release said.
