In July 2013, US authorities indicted three people for hacking into the networks of major video game companies and attempting to steal unreleased game releases.
The indictment, which was recently released, shows that 10-year-old Nathan Leroux, 28-year-old Sanadodeh Nesheiwat and David Pokora were found guilty of 15 felonies, including hacking, fraud, identity theft, criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy.
The FBI has arrested Leroux and Nesheiwat, but it is unclear whether Pokora has been taken into custody. Two other people are believed to be involved in the case, but have not yet been charged.
Authorities believe the suspects began their operations in early 2011. For more than two years, the hackers targeted major video game developers, including Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, Valve and Zombie Studios. The criminals also carried out a hacking attack against Microsoft in an attempt to steal the design of the Xbox console.
The hackers reportedly managed to gain access to unreleased versions of games, such as Gears of War 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. They also used the information they managed to steal from Microsoft to create a fake version of the Xbox console, which they intended to sell for $5,000 (€3,600).
FBI agents were able to locate and obtain the counterfeit version of the console in time. Microsoft confirmed that the console contained stolen components for which it held the intellectual property.
