Jury convicts Goatse Security iPad hacker
 

Hacker Andrew Auernheimer has been found guilty of breaking into AT&T's servers and stealing the email addresses and other personal data of about 120,000 Apple iPad users.

According to Associated Press, Auernheimer, 27, was found guilty of conspiracy to access the servers without permission, as well as identity theft.

According to US Attorney Paul Fishman, the hacker faces a maximum five years in prison and $250,000 fine on each count. A co-defendant, Daniel Spitler, pleaded guilty to the same charges in June 2011 and is awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors told the court that Auernheimer and Spitler were famous for their hacks and getting the word Goatse into the mainstream press.

The pair formed Goatse Security which was a group that tried to disrupt online content and services.

The attack, which embarrassed Apple and AT&T at the time, showed up the fairly weak security that both were using.

The hackers used an "account slurper" that was designed to match email addresses with "integrated circuit card identifiers" for iPad users.

They then used a brute force attack to extract data about those users to identify their email addresses and favourite Coldplay songs.

They then turned the information to Gawker, which published an article naming the rich and famous who were using the service. This included ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Tor Ekeland, a lawyer for Auernheimer, said his client planned to appeal the verdict to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Auernheimer's defence covered an argument over what constitutes unauthorised access to a computer under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

The prosecutors' interpretation of that federal law was "extremely expansive", he told the court.

The jury did not find it that difficult. It only thought about the matter for a couple of hours.

After the hacking, Apple and AT&T shut off the feature that allowed email addresses to be obtained.

http://news.techeye.net/security/jur...ty-ipad-hacker