A 24-year-old man from Tennessee pleaded guilty in the US District Court on Friday in connection with hacking the electronic filing system of the US Supreme Court at least 25 times. He also reportedly hacked the accounts of AmeriCorps and the Veterans Administration Health System.
The man identified as Nicholas Moore pleaded guilty to computer related fraudulant activities, which is a Class A misdemeanour. According to a press release by the US Attorney’s Office, Moore is eligible for up to one year in prison and a fine of upto $100,000 when he is sentenced by Judge Beryl A. Howell on April 17.
As per the court documents, cited in the release, the electronic filing system was restricted to authorised users, which Moore accessed using stolen credentials. Between August 29, 2023 and October 22, 2023, Moore accessed the system without authorisation using the credentials of an authorised user. Over the course of 25 days, he sometimes returned to the site multiple times the same day.
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He accessed personal records belonging to the person whose credentials he used and posted information about the person on an Instagram account named ‘@ihackedthegovernment,’ the release said. He did this on three occasions.
Similarly, he used the stolen credentials of an authorised user of MyAmeriCorps to access a second victim’s AmeriCorps account.
Between August 7, 2023, and October 13, 2023, Moore accessed the second victim’s personal information from AmeriCorps. He again posted the information to the same Instagram account.
Posted US veterans’ health information
Moore then used the stolen login credentials of a US Marine Corps veteran to access the Department of Veterans Affairs ‘MyHealthEVet’ platform for five days. He obtained private health information of the veteran, including details on prescribed medications. He took this information to the same handle, boasting about hacking the VA’s servers.
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After the incident came to light, it was investigated by the Supreme Court of the United States Police and the FBI, Washington Field Office. Additionally, the Inspector General of the US Department of Veterans Affairs Office and the AmeriCorps Office also assisted in the probe.
Currently, the matter is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorneys John Borchert and Rami Sibay for the District of Columbia.