Cops arrest teen for hack and leak of DHS, FBI data
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A 16-year-old boy living in England has been arrested in connection with the recent hack of FBI and DHS data, as well as the personal email accounts of CIA director John Brennan and homeland security chief Jeh Johnson.
Fox has confirmed that British authorities have arrested the still- unnamed teen with help from the FBI and that they are looking for possible accomplices.
The alleged hacker had told Motherboard webzine that he had swiped the names, titles and contact information for 20,000 FBI employees and 9,000 Department of Homeland Security employees. He told Motherboard this was possible through a compromised Department of Justice email.
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Authorities believe this is the same hacker who compromised the private email accounts of Brennan and Johnson in October, though officials say neither man used these accounts for government use. As for the agency data, reports indicate that the pilfered information amounted to an internal phone directory.
"There is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive or personally identifiable information," DHS said in a statement earlier in the week.
However, the hacker and/or accomplices have been releasing the information from all the hacks online over the last few months.
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The teen is suspected of being the leader of a group of hackers who call themselves “Crackas with Attitude” or CWA. Friends and associates of “Cracka,” the suspect’s online moniker, told Motherboard Thursday there would be repercussions for the arrest.
“(It) doesn't mean we'll stop hacking them,” a hacker named IncursioSubter, reportedly part of CWA, told Motherboard on Friday. “Give us time, you'll see. :)”
Matthew Dean contributed to this report