Hackers Charged For Swiping Military And Xbox Data

The Department of Justice has announced that four hackers, part of what is being referred to as an "international computer hacking ring" — have been charged for stealing data and software related to the Xbox and belonging to the military. Two of the four hackers have plead guilty to the charges.

The group is said to have stolen proprietary software used by the military to train Apache helicopter pilots, and to have swiped trade secret data related to the Xbox One and Xbox Live, as well as the games Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3. The charges took place back in April, but have only now been unsealed.

Says the Justice Department, the four entered into conspiracy to infringe on copyrights, commit computer/wire/mail fraud, trade secret theft, and identity theft, among other things. One of the hackers in particular, David Pokora of Ontario, is the first foreign person convicted of US trade secret theft via hacking.

The aforementioned data was acquired by hacking into networks belonging to the US Army, Microsoft, Epic Games, Valve, and Zombie Studios. Login credentials were swiped and used to acquired the data, which included source code for Xbox Live, simulators for Apache helicopters, and pre-release versions of MW3 and Gears of War 3.

SOURCE: Department of Justice