Crackas with Attitude is the group of hackers who allegedly was behind a series of audacious and embarrassing hacks that targeted personal email accounts of senior officials at the CIA, FBI, the White House, Homeland Security Department, and other US federal agencies.
Andrew Otto Boggs, 22, of North Wilkesboro, N.C., who allegedly used the handle "INCURSIO," and Justin Gray Liverman, 24, of Morehead City, who known online as "D3F4ULT," were arrested on Thursday morning on charges related to their alleged roles in the computer hacking, according to a press release by Department of Justice.
A 16-year-old British teenager suspected of being part of the group was arrested in February by the FBI and British police.
Although court documents did not name the victims, the hacking group had allegedly:
- Hacked into the AOL email of CIA director John Brennan and released personal details.
- Hacked into the personal emails and phone accounts of the US spy chief James Clapper.
- Broke into the AOL email of the FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano.
"In some instances, members of the conspiracy uploaded private information that they obtained from victims' personal accounts to public websites; made harassing phone calls to victims and their families; and defaced victims' social media accounts," reads the press release.
According to the FBI officials, between October 2015 to February 2016, the hacking group used social engineering in order to trick the victims into revealing their account number, password, and other details.
Boggs and Liverman will be extradited next week to the Eastern District of Virginia, where federal prosecutors have spent months building a case against Crackas With Attitude.
