Twin brothers hacked US State Department for passport data

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Twin brothers hacked US State Department for passport data

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 30 June, 2015, 12:23pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 30 June, 2015, 12:23pm

The Washington Post

At the age of 19, twin brothers Sohaib (right) and Muneeb Akhter will graduate from George Mason University, both with bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering.

Twin brothers have pleaded guilty in US federal court in Virginia to a series of computer hacking schemes that involved stealing credit card information, breaking into State Department computers and obtaining data from a private company.

Springfield siblings Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, 23, admitted during a hearing on Friday that they used their positions as government contractors to carry out some of the intrusions and one of the brothers attempted to thwart the investigation into their crimes, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The brothers were once up-and-coming computer whizzes who, at just 19, were highlighted in 2011 for being the youngest graduates from George Mason University that year. Later, they received a US$200,000 research grant from the Defence Advanced Research Project Agency.

In one of the schemes, Muneeb Akhter hacked into the website of a cosmetics company in March 2014 and stole thousands of its customers' credit card numbers and other personal information, according to the US Attorney's Office. The Akhters and others then used the data to buy flights, hotel stays and attend conferences.

In another scheme, prosecutors said Sohaib Akhter used his contract position with the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs to access passport data belonging to dozens of co-workers, acquaintances and the federal agent investigating his case in February 2015.

When Sohaib Akhter learned he was being transferred from that position, the brothers conspired to install an electronic device behind a wall at a State Department building in order to maintain access to the department's computer systems, according to the US Attorney's Office. However, Sohaib Akhter broke the device as he was trying to install it. Prosecutors said Sohaib Akhter told a co-conspirator he carried out the scheme so he could approve visas and create passports and visas in exchange for payment.

The Akhters pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to access a protected computer without authorisation and conspiracy to access a government computer without authorisation. Muneeb Akhter also pleaded guilty to accessing a protected computer without authorisation, making a false statement and obstructing justice. Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter face up to 50 and 30 years in jail, respectively.