Nineteen-year-old Justin A. Perras of New Bedford, MA, was one of five co-defendants who admitted hacking into computers at information management and workflow solutions provider LexisNexis. The computers were accessed using Trojan horses and social engineering tricks, in order to make unauthorized entries into the company's Accurint database, which is used by law enforcement agencies amongst others. Perras was sentenced to one year in prison, followed by three years supervised release and 100 hours of community service.
The other defendants were sentenced in December 2006 for their roles in the conspiracy, and between them must pay LexisNexis $105,750 in compensation. Experts note that the five culprits have been banned from using computers following the discovery of their crimes.
"The US law enforcement agencies must be congratulated again for another big computer hacking arrest, which will hopefully deter others from following in the footsteps of Perras, who's going nowhere fast for the next few years," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "The case demonstrates the value of swiftly reporting any network intrusions to the appropriate authorities, however it's likely that with Accurint, the fact that it was used by law enforcement gave the US secret service an extra spring in its step in tracking down the perpetrators."
