Two men arrested for allegedly hacking top US officials

Two North Carolina men were arrested on Thursday for allegedly hacking various accounts of federal officials and others in a 2015 spree that included illicit access of law enforcement databases. 

Andrew Otto Boggs of North Wilkesboro, 22, and Justin Gray Liverman, 24, allegedly operated with the group “Crackas With Attitude.” At least three other people are being investigated in the United Kingdom for involvement in the hacking. 

{mosads}According to the arresting complaint signed by Federal Bureau of Investigation agent BJ Kang, the hackers targeted four “senior U.S. government official[s]” and their families, two of whom worked for federal law enforcement. The group also struck the chief executive of a government contractor. The government has not released the names of the victims. 

The report says the group began their cooperative effort in July of 2015. The crimes listed in the arrest report are said to have occurred around the end of 2015. It alleges that Boggs sent a direct message over Twitter to a hacker known as Cracka claiming the group’s purpose would “only be hitting governments and security firms.”

The Department of Justice claims Crackas With Attitude operated largely through spear-phishing attacks. 

The hacks allegedly included accessing the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP), a shared system allowing law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access booking information, the Internet Crime Complaint Center and other databases. Using the LEEP system, the group hacked personal information from 80 Miami law enforcement agents.

The group also allegedly distributed information from the Department of Justice Civil Division’s Case Information Management System, made a bomb threat to a Palm Beach County Sherriff’s Office, and tweeted personal information taken from victims’ accounts. 

Boggs and Liverman will appear next week in an Alexandria, Va., federal court.