Suffolk man charged over US government computer hackings

28-year-old Lauri Love from Suffolk is accused of trying to hack into the computer systems of the NASA, US Army, and other government organisations.

16:38 29 October 2013

America’s FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has formally charged 28-year-old Lauri Love from Suffolk with hacking into thousands of top-secret US military computers.

Officials said that the British computer expert together with three alleged hackers from Australia and Sweden tried to crack networks run by America’s Missile Defense Agency, NASA, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and an environment agency between October 2012 and October 2013.

Love was arrested on Friday.

US prosecutor Paul Fishman alleged: “According to the indictment, Lauri Love and conspirators hacked into thousands of networks, including many belonging to the United States military and other government agencies.

“As part of their alleged scheme, they stole military data and personal identifying information belonging to servicemen and women. Such conduct endangers the security of our country and is an affront to those who serve.”

Meanwhile, the indictment read: "Once inside the compromised computer systems, the co-conspirators placed hidden ‘shells’ or ‘backdoors’ within the networks, which allowed the co-conspirators to return to the compromised computer systems at a later date and steal confidential data."