A former employee of the US Department of Energy, Charles Harvey Eccleston, 62 years old, was accused of attempting to steal nuclear secrets and sell them to foreign governments!
The man was charged with cyber espionage! The accused attempted to infect at least 80 of his colleagues at the Department by spreading malicious software in order to take control of their computers!
He did this to open the doors to foreign hackers, allowing them to gain access to sensitive information related to nuclear weapons.
According to the country's Department of Justice, Eccleston attempted unauthorized access and intentional damage to a protected computer.
“Charles Harvey Eccleston, 62, a former employee of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, pleaded guilty today to a federal crime, the January 2015 “spear-phishing” email attack that targeted dozens of Department employee email accounts,” the official statement from the Department of Justice reads.
https://www.secnews.gr/100384/%cf%80%cf%85%cf%81%ce%b7%ce%bd%ce%b9%ce%ba%ce%ad%cf%82-%ce%b5%ce%b3%ce%ba%ce%b1%cf%84%ce%b1%cf%83%cf%84%ce%ac%cf%83%ce%b5%ce%b9%cf%82-%cf%87%cf%8e%cf%81%ce%b5%cf%82-%ce%b5%ce%af%ce%bd%ce%b1%ce%b9/Πυρηνικές εγκαταστάσεις σε 20 χώρες είναι ευάλωτες σε κυβερνοεπιθέσεις
Eccleston tried to sell information about his colleagues to foreign governments. Prosecutors confirmed that the case was discovered in 2013 after the defendant visited an anonymous foreign embassy in the Philippines and offered more than 5,000 email of internal employees for sale. The man also offered access to the agency's systems for further espionage.
Eccleston then met with undercover FBI who presented themselves to him as representatives of a foreign government. During a meeting on November 7, 2013, he showed one of the agents a list of about 5,000 email addresses belonging to employees of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He offered to sell the information for $23,000 and said it could be used to plant a virus on the commission’s computers that could allow foreign governments to access the agency’s information or even shut down the commission’s entire servers. The undercover agent agreed to buy about 1,200 addresses, which an analysis later showed were also available to the public. Eccleston took $5,000 from the agent for the addresses and $2,000 for travel expenses.
https://www.secnews.gr/100688/%ce%b7%cf%80%ce%b1-%cf%85%cf%80%ce%bf%cf%80%cf%84%ce%b5%cf%8d%ce%bf%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b1%ce%b9-%cf%8c%cf%84%ce%b9-%ce%ba%ce%af%ce%bd%ce%b1-%cf%84%ce%b9%cf%82-%ce%ad%ce%ba%ce%bb%ce%b5%cf%88%ce%b5-%cf%83/Οι ΗΠΑ υποπτεύονται ότι η Κίνα τις έκλεψε σχέδια στρατιωτικών ρομπότ!
In the following months, the man frequently communicated via email with the agents. A subsequent meeting with a second agent took place on June 24, 2014 and he was paid $2,000 for his travel expenses. During this meeting he said he has a list of 20,000 email accounts and offered to design and send spear-phishing e-mails that could damage the information systems of his former employer.
The FBI agent gave him a link to include in the malicious emails. O Eccleston thought the link led to a malicious domain, but it was actually harmless. Overall, he sent emails to about 80 employees of the Ministry of Energy who were in various facilities across the country, such as offices and labs related to nuclear energy.
Eccleston was fired by the Committee in 2010 for unknown reasons and went to Davos City in the Philippines in 2011. The man was arrested by the Philippine authorities on March 27 and on Friday will appear in the US provincial court in the Columbia region.
According to the Ministry of Justice, he will remain in custody until the hearing scheduled for May 20. Crimes of this type are punished with up to 10 years imprisonment and financial sanctions, but due to his age Eccleston may be sentenced to 24 to 30 months and receive a fine of up to $95,000.
https://www.secnews.gr/99977/%ce%ba%ce%b9%ce%bd%ce%ad%ce%b6%ce%b9%ce%ba%ce%b5%cf%82-%ce%b1%cf%81%cf%87%ce%ad%cf%82-%cf%85%cf%80%ce%b5%cf%8d%cf%84%cf%85%ce%bd%ce%b5%cf%82-%ce%b3%ce%b9%ce%b1-hacking-%cf%87%ce%b9%ce%bb%ce%b9%ce%ac/btn-large” variation=”btn-success”]The Chinese authorities responsible for hacking thousands of Hotmail accounts!
