{"id":20984,"date":"2016-03-03T17:04:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T01:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=20984"},"modified":"2016-03-03T17:04:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T01:04:56","slug":"20984-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=20984","title":{"rendered":"Man Admits Staging Online Attacks Against His Former Employer’s Computers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"U.S.An Oceanside man plead guilty to launching repeated online attacks against a computer system operated by his former employer, a Rancho Dominguez-based manufacturer of precision laser and mechanical drilling equipment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conrad Pearson<\/strong>, 64, plead Wednesday to one count of unauthorized damage to a protected computer.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O\u2019Connell<\/strong> scheduled to sentencing for May 23. \u00a0Pearson is facing up to 10 years in federal prison,<\/span><\/p>\n

When he pleaded guilty on Wednesday, officials said Pearson admitted that soon after he stopped working for Excellon Automation, he began transmitting \u201cattack scripts\u201d to Excellon\u2019s website.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018attack scripts\u2019 constituted automated actions against Excellon’s website, and included automatically downloading information from the Excellon website and automatically sending commands to the Partlink application of the website,\u201d according to a factual statement filed this morning. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Partlink application allowed customers to check inventory of Excellon products.<\/span><\/p>\n

The attacks on Excellon\u2019s computer system, which were committed on a regular basis over the course of 10 months in 2009 and 2010, \u201ccaused the Excellon server to either cease functioning or to become inordinately slow,\u201d according to the court document.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cComputer hacking causes significant economic damage to local businesses and therefore threatens the economic vitality of our entire region,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. \u201cThis defendant used his computer expertise and his knowledge of his former employer\u2019s business to severely disrupt the company\u2019s operations. The victim in this case suffered harm and wasted months fighting the defendant\u2019s attacks on its website. This case illustrates why the prosecution of those who violate cyber security laws remains a top priority for my office.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pearson also admitted in court today that, in an attempt to hide his Internet address, he used The Onion Router or TOR network, which helps conceal the identity of a user by routing them through a distributed network of relays all around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pearson admitted that his actions caused more than $15,000 in losses to Excellon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs evidenced in Mr. Pearson’s plea agreement, individuals who attempt to hide criminal activity by using TOR are not beyond detection by law enforcement,\u201d said David Bowdich, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. \u201cThis case demonstrates the heightened threat posed by insiders whose attacks can be more effective when they’re armed with an understanding of the network operated by a targeted company.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI investigated this case.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Oceanside man plead guilty to launching repeated online attacks against a computer system operated by his former employer, a Rancho Dominguez-based manufacturer of precision laser and mechanical drilling equipment.
\nConrad Pearson, 64, plead Wednesday to one count of unauthorized damage to a protected computer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[920],"class_list":["post-20984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-cybercrime"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Admits Staging Online Attacks Against His Former Employer's Computers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Oceanside man plead guilty to launching repeated online attacks against a computer system operated by his former employer, a Rancho Dominguez-based manufacturer of precision laser and mechanical drilling equipment. Conrad Pearson, 64, plead Wednesday to one count of unauthorized damage to a protected computer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=20984\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Admits Staging Online Attacks Against His Former Employer's Computers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Oceanside man plead guilty to launching repeated online attacks against a computer system operated by his former employer, a Rancho Dominguez-based manufacturer of precision laser and mechanical drilling equipment. 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