A Salem, Ill., community college student has been sentenced to two years in prison for hacking the U.S. Navy, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and over 50 other computer systems.
According to court documents, Daniel Krueger of Dix, Illinois, was one of two leaders of the computer hacking group known as Team Digi7al, along with Nicholas Knight. Krueger, 20, was a student at the time of the hacking. Knight, 27, was an active-duty enlisted member of the U.S. Navy, serving aboard the USS Harry S. Truman.
“Cyber crime is one of the most serious national security challenges we face as a nation, and it is one of the Department of Justice’s highest priorities,” said U.S. Attorney Danny Williams. “We will vigorously investigate and prosecute cyber crimes. I commend the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service for their quick actions to identify and investigate the computer intrusions”,he concluded.
Prosecutors said in June 2012, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) detected a breach of an online U.S. Navy database which stored personal records for approximately 220,000 service members. At the time of the hacking attacks, Krueger and Knight, along with other co-conspirators, posted links of the stolen information on a Team Digit7al Twitter account.
NCIS investigators and members of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) identified Knight and Krueger as the hackers following a sting operation aboard the USS Harry S. Truman.The U-verse hack compromised the personal information of 3,500 customers. The June 2012 Navy hack left 700 overseas military members unable to access the system and get logistical support for their transfers for more than 10 weeks and cost the Navy more than $500,000, documents say.That juvenile and two others who hacked for Team Digi7al were not charged.