infoTECH News

[November 20, 2009]

3 charged with hacking into Comcast's Web site

Nov 20, 2009 (Philadelphia Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- When Comcast's Internet customers tried to connect to their e-mails or voice mails two days in May 2008, they were redirected to a Web site that read "KRYOGENIKS Defiant and EBK RoXed COMCAST sHouTz to VIRUS Warlock elul21 col 1 er seven." Comcast's Web site -- www. comcast.net, -- had been hacked. Yesterday, the long arm of the law apprehended three alleged perpetrators, charging them with conspiracy to disrupt Comcast's service at www.comcast.net.

Authorities said Christopher A. Lewis, 19, of Newark, Del.; James R. Black, Jr., 20, of Tumwater, Wash., and Michael P. Nebel, 27, of Kalamazoo, Mich. -- whose screen names were EBK, Defiant and Slacker -- were associated with the hacker group Kryogeniks. (The group has been implicated in attacks against AOL and a number of celebrities.) The feds said Lewis, Black and Nebel "planned and executed an attack" on www.comcast.net to block Comcast customers from the company's e-mail, voice mail and other Web-based services.

The charging papers said that Lewis, Black and a third person participated in a telephone conference call on May 26, 2008, during which they discussed a Comcast-owned Web site called fearnet. com and taking control of the comcast.net domain.

The next day, the indictment states, Lewis anonymously called a Comcast employee at his home and asked him if he would answer questions about fearnet.com.

Authorities said Lewis called twice the following day and got information that he and his alleged co-conspirators later used to gain access to Comcast's server settings.

The next day Lewis, Black and Nebel created substitute Web sites that Comcast customers would be directed to when they tried to access www.comcast.net, the indictment said.

About five million users visited www.comcast.net in May 2008, the indictment states.

Authorities allege that Lewis, Black and Nebel changed the public-contact information for www. comcast.net to a sexually suggestive mailing address and an e-mail address of kryogeniksdefiant@ gmail.com.

The feds said the defendants' acts resulted in a $128,000 loss to Comcast and prompted an FBI investigation.

Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas said that the company had taken steps to ensure that its Web site is not hacked again but that he couldn't comment further.

Lewis, Black and Nebel could potentially face 30 to 37 months behind bars under preliminary advisory sentencing guidelines.

To see more of the Philadelphia Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/dailynews. Copyright (c) 2009, Philadelphia Daily News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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