departmentofjustice
Latest
Chinese man pleads guilty to stealing US aerospace secrets
Some two years after the United States charged Chinese national Su Bin as part of a conspiracy to steal aerospace info, he's pleaded guilty to the crime. For that he'll face a maximum sentence of five years behind bars and a $250,000 fine "or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense;" whichever is a higher amount, according to the Department of Justice. Part of his deal entailed admitting that the data pilfered (including info from the U.S. Munitions list) was done so expressly for monetary gain.
Apple surprised at DoJ's request to cross-examine witnesses
On Wednesday the Department of Justice asked that its hearing with Apple on March 22 concerning the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter, Syed Farook be an evidentiary hearing. What that means is that both sides will be able to cross-examine witnesses that have made declarations to the courts. During a conference call with reporters, Apple attorneys said they were surprised by the last-minute request and said that this is something that should been asked for weeks ago.
Apple: Government may have ruined its chance to get iPhone data
The fight between Apple and the government over San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook's iPhone 5c heated up today with the Department of Justice filing another motion to force the company to comply to the FBI's request for help circumventing the phone's passcode. The Cupertino-based technology company struck back later in the day saying that after the government took possession of the phone, the Apple ID passcode was changed and that halted any potential iCloud auto backups.
Hacker posts info on thousands of Homeland Security employees
The US government has yet another security breach on its hands. Late yesterday, a Twitter account posted a Department of Homeland Security staff directory containing names, titles, email addresses, phone numbers and more for over 9,000 employees. "This is for Palestine, Ramallah, West Bank, Gaza, This is for the child that is searching for an answer," the post read. What's more, the hacker claims they have details on 20,000 FBI employees and plan to leak those next.
Report: DOJ opens criminal investigation of Uber data breach
The US Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation of a breach that exposed the personal data of 50,000 Uber drivers in May 2014, Reuters reports, citing "sources familiar with the situation." Uber discovered the hack in September 2014 and went public with the news in February. Reuters says the DOJ will investigate whether Chris Lambert, technology chief for rival ride-sharing company Lyft, had anything to do with the breach.
US prosecutes man who hacked identities to help ISIS
Extremism and terrorism are complex things in the internet era, and US federal prosecutors are learning this first hand. The Justice Department recently charged Kosovo citizen Ardit Ferizi with leading a hacking team that swiped the personal data of US military staffers in order to help Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) supporters kill as many as 1,000 Americans. That campaign hasn't panned out, as you might have guessed, but it makes the consequences of a typical data breach look timid by comparison.
DOJ: Apple owns your iPhone's software, so it should have a backdoor
The Department of Justice is trying to get Apple to unlock a defendant's iPhone. While Apple has stated that it can technically bypass the phone's passcode security, it has so far refused to do so for various reasons. So the DOJ has come up with a new strategy, force Apple to comply because it licenses the software on the phone. Because of that, the DOJ contends that the iPhone maker actually has a relationship with the phone that's currently evidence in a case. In a reply to Apple's response to the court order to unlock the phone, the government states, "Apple cannot reap the legal benefits of licensing its software in this manner and then later disclaim any ownership or obligation to assist law enforcement when that same software plays a critical role in thwarting execution of a search warrant." In other words, it's your software Apple, not the defendant's, unlock it.
Department of Justice plans to crack down on counterfeits sold online
These days, people are resorting to the internet for most of their shopping. Who can blame them; the experience is far more convenient, and often cheaper, than going to traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores. One of the problems with this, however, is how easy it is to find and buy counterfeit goods online, and the US Department of Justice wants to put an end to that. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch has announced a plan to fight intellectual property crimes in the country, which includes a grant funding of 3.2 million dollars for local and state law enforcement agencies. The idea behind the strategy, led by the FBI, is to work with third-party marketplaces (such as eBay or Amazon) to make sure they have "the right analytical tools and techniques to combat intellectual property concerns on their websites."
Comcast fined $33 million for publishing unlisted numbers
Comcast will pay $33.4 million in restitution after California found that the firm had broadcast the personal details of customers who paid for unlisted service. The issue centers around 75,000 users whose names, numbers and addresses were available in the company's online directory. Rubbing more salt into the wound, this data was also made available in several rural telephone books and, critically, via nationwide directory assistance. If you're asking us, publishing the names, addresses and phone numbers of people online, in print and on the internal directory seems like it's stretching the definition of "unlisted."
Apple is refusing Justice Department requests for iMessages
You likely know that Apple's iMessage is encrypted well enough that law enforcement can't snoop on your messages, but it's now very clear that this security is setting up a conflict with the US government. The New York Times understands that Apple refused at least one Department of Justice request for iMessage chats between suspects using iPhones. There's no way to comply, according to the response. Reportedly, the case ruffled enough feathers that officials at the FBI and Justice Department were pushing for legal action against Apple. That never materialized, but there's no doubt that the Cupertino crew is on notice.
Virginia teen gets 11 years for ISIS support on Twitter
17-year-old Ali Shukri Amin from Virginia will spend the next 11 years and 4 months in a federal penitentiary for his role in running the powerful pro-ISIS Twitter account, @Amreekiwitness. This account collected and disseminated ISIS propaganda to more than 4,000 followers and shared instructions for using Bitcoin to secretly fund the terrorist organization. Amin also admitted to helping one of the account's followers to travel to Syria and join the group. That follower has since been arrested and is facing federal prosecution as well on a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism charge.
21-year-old charged with sextortion crimes
A 21-year-old from New Hampshire has been charged with a range of crimes surrounding a grisly extortion scheme involving underage girls. The Department of Justice accuses Ryan J. Vallee of hacking into several teenagers' social media accounts, holding them hostage unless they sent him explicit images of themselves. If they didn't comply, he would threaten the girls with "additional harm," although after obtaining the pictures, he distributed them to others anyway. In addition, Vallee is said to have accessed the victim's Amazon accounts and ordered "items of a sexual nature," which were then sent to their homes, causing untold distress.
Authors call on the US to investigate Amazon's book business
Just because Apple is on the hook for allegedly anti-competitive book sales doesn't mean that Amazon is above reproach. As promised, groups representing both authors and booksellers are calling on the US Department of Justice to investigate Amazon for antitrust abuses. The Kindle maker is supposedly using its literary dominance to "impoverish the book industry," hurt writers' careers and even limit free expression. For example, the company is known to squeeze publishers who object to its pricing policies by withholding pre-orders and otherwise depriving these 'enemies' of income. There are also concerns that Amazon wrecks rival stores through unfair price dumping (that is, selling below cost) and refuses to carry some authors based purely on their politics or fame.
Silk Road investigator pleads guilty to stealing bitcoins
Disgraced DEA agent Carl Force has pleaded guilty to charges of extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The official committed the crimes while himself investigating the online black market Silk Road, as well as the activities of its founder, Russ "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht. In a statement from the Department of Justice, Force used "Nob," a DEA-sanctioned online persona to conduct some after hours business with Ulbricht, amongst other things.
Comcast officially gives up on Time Warner Cable merger
The rather unpopular, $45 billion merger attempt between Comcast and Time Warner Cable has been officially called off. In a very brief statement, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts said that he would have liked to pair the two companies together, but governmental pressure has killed the deal. The biggest objection to the deal was that the combination would control the majority of high-speed internet connections in the US, raising the ire of both the FCC and Justice Department. Unlike the failed AT&T - T-Mobile deal a few years back, it doesn't appear as if either party has to pay a severance fee to the other, which should make walking away a little easier. Update: In a statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said the decision is a victory for "providers of content and streaming services who work to bring innovative products to consumers across America and around the world." Check after the break for other statements from around the industry, including Time Warner Cable and some of the consumer groups that opposed the deal. [Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
It looks like the government will stop the Comcast/TWC merger
That seemingly ever-looming union between Comcast and Time-Warner Cable looks like it hit another roadblock. The Federal Communications Commission wants to put the $45 billion merger in front of an administrative law judge and issue a "hearing administration order," which The Wall Street Journal says is a pretty strong message from the government that the deal could die. Why's that? Because it's essentially Uncle Sam saying that the business move isn't good for consumers; that whole Netflix situation's still pretty fresh on everyone's mind, it'd seem. WSJ's sources say that Comcast and Time Warner could still make a case for themselves, but it may be too late.
Comcast and TWC will negotiate with officials to save their merger
The merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable is no longer as certain to get approval as it once was, and the two cable giants know it. Wall Street Journal sources understand that the companies will meet with Department of Justice officials this week (the first time they've met since the announcement) in hopes of negotiating concessions and saving the deal. It's not clear what more they'll propose beyond existing offers, although history suggests that they could give up more customers or promise more efforts to expand low-cost internet access.
US accuses three people of stealing over a billion email addresses
The US Department of Justice just announced three indictments for what one attorney called "the largest data breach of names and email addresses in the history of the Internet." Vietnamese citizens Viet Quoc Nguyen and Giang Hoang Vu stand accused of a scheme to hack email service providers, while Canadian David-Manuel Santos Da Silva allegedly conspired with them to launder the proceeds generated. According to the indictments, between 2009 and 2012 Nguyen and Vu hacked at least eight email service providers -- the companies that collect your data under slightly more legitimate circumstances -- to steal marketing data containing over a billion email addresses. After that, they worked with Da Silva to profit from the addresses by sending spam with affiliate links for a company he controlled, Marketbay.com.
Megaupload piracy case lands its first prison sentence
The US government leveled piracy charges against Megaupload's operators three years ago, but it looks like those efforts are only now leading to real convictions. Programmer Andrus Nõmm has ended his extradition fight and pleaded guilty to charges that he helped commit copyright infringement by knowingly developing for a site that thrived on sharing bootleg files. He'll spend a year in prison, which takes into account both his role at Megaupload and his willingness to confess.
DEA kept records of US phone calls for nearly 15 years
The NSA isn't the only American government agency keeping track of phone call metadata... or rather, it wasn't. A Department of Justice court filing has revealed that the Drug Enforcement Administration maintained records of every call made from the US to Iran and other nations for nearly 15 years, stopping only when the initiative was discontinued (prompted at least partly by leaks) in September 2013. The DEA didn't get the content of those calls, but it also didn't get court oversight -- it used administrative subpoenas that only required the approval of federal agents. And unlike the NSA, this program was meant solely for domestic offenses like drug trafficking.