Hackers indicted for stealing Apache training software
Justice Department indicts four for stealing software used to train U.S. helicopter pilots, among other trade secrets.
The Justice Department has charged four men with hacking into the computer networks of the U.S. Army, Microsoft and other technology firms and stealing more than $100 million in intellectual property and “other proprietary data.” Among the data allegedly stolen was software used to train American soldiers to fly Apache helicopters, the Justice Department said.
A federal grand jury in Delaware charged the men on April 23, but the indictment was unsealed Sept. 30.
The four men are between 18 and 28 years old; one is from Ontario, while the other three reside in the United States, according to the announcement. Two of them have pleaded guilty, DOJ said.
The charges in the indictment include “conspiracies to commit computer fraud, copyright infringement, wire fraud, mail fraud, identity theft and theft of trade secrets,” the department added.
“Electronic breaking and entering of computer networks and the digital looting of identities and intellectual property have become much too common,” said U.S. Attorney Charles Oberly III, who was part of the legal team that made the announcement.