Anonymous Remailer (austria)
2014-11-14 23:46:16 UTC
A notorious hacker serving a federal prison sentence revealed
that a weak password -- his cat's name -- may have led to his
downfall.
Jeremy Hammond, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for his
role in cyber attacks against a private defense firm, law
enforcement agencies and what prosecutors called "thousands of
innocent individuals," was able to hack into systems that may
have seemed impenetrable to others.
It would be fair to expect a hacker as skilled as Hammond to
keep his private information carefully protected, but instead he
told the Associated Press he used a password that was
surprisingly easy: Chewy 123.
"My password was really weak," he told the AP.
Hammond said he still isn't sure how federal authorities were
able to get into his encryption program and gather evidence that
ultimately sent him to prison, however, he said he wonders if
his weak password may have been the culprit.
The "hacktivist" portrayed his actions as acts of civil
disobedience, but at his sentencing last year Judge Loretta
Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York said Hammond "hacked into websites he disagreed with
politically."
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fbi-wanted-hacker-jeremy-
hammond-cats-password/story?id=26884738
that a weak password -- his cat's name -- may have led to his
downfall.
Jeremy Hammond, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for his
role in cyber attacks against a private defense firm, law
enforcement agencies and what prosecutors called "thousands of
innocent individuals," was able to hack into systems that may
have seemed impenetrable to others.
It would be fair to expect a hacker as skilled as Hammond to
keep his private information carefully protected, but instead he
told the Associated Press he used a password that was
surprisingly easy: Chewy 123.
"My password was really weak," he told the AP.
Hammond said he still isn't sure how federal authorities were
able to get into his encryption program and gather evidence that
ultimately sent him to prison, however, he said he wonders if
his weak password may have been the culprit.
The "hacktivist" portrayed his actions as acts of civil
disobedience, but at his sentencing last year Judge Loretta
Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York said Hammond "hacked into websites he disagreed with
politically."
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fbi-wanted-hacker-jeremy-
hammond-cats-password/story?id=26884738