In September 2016, two men were arrested for participating in the hacking of CIA Director John Brennan’s email account, along with accounts belonging to various other government administrators.
Despite the hackers, Andrew Otto Boggs, 22, and Justin Gray Liverman, 24, being the only two arrested during the September bust, authorities confirmed that the conspiracy was greater than 2.
The complete ‘Crackas with Attitude’ crew included:
- CWA member “Derp” – 16 years old
- Group leader “Cracka” – 16 years old
- Scottish UK citizen “Cubed” – 15 years old
- Andrew Otto Boggs “Incursio” – 22 years old
- Justin Gray Liverman “D3f4ult” – 24 years old
Boggs and Liverman were the last two to be arrested; Boggs claiming the desire to keep the “legacy” alive. This was made evident in an email exchange between Boggs and another individual.
“I want to carry on [Cracka’s] legacy if or when he is arrested. I know he’ll receive a harsh sentence because our government doesn’t like being embarrassed.”
Dubbing the names “INCURSIO” and “D3F4ULT”, they then utilized the security blanket of their aliases and the hacking tactic of social engineering to obtain sensitive information from their victims.
After gaining access to the targeted accounts, the hackers went a bit crazy with their idea of “fun”.
“When the hackers gained control of an account, they used access to promote the Free Palestine Movement, according to the affidavit. In another case, they pretended to be Edward Snowden when they contacted their victim. News accounts indicated Crackas hackers targeted Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and had his phones forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement.”
In addition to the hack that took them down, ‘Cracks with Attitude’ have also been accused of calling in fake bomb threats and publishing thousands of names and emails belonging to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
Their reign lasted a solid nine months before all involved were taken in by authorities. After almost 2 years, Boggs was finally sentenced to two years in prison. He plead guilty to ‘unauthorized computer access’.
