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U.S. attorneys in the Northern District of Texas call it a “disgusting betrayal of trust,” announced Thursday that an ADT security technician has pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking customer video feeds of customers to spy on women.
The prosecutors affected 220 customers’ accounts, prosecutors say. The technician, 35-year-old Telesforo Aviles, admits he has viewed these bills 9,600 times over a period of four and a half years. He is currently serving up to five years in federal prison on charges of computer fraud.
According to the lawsuit, Aviles admitted to violating company policy by regularly adding his email address to ADT Pulse customer accounts, giving him real-time access to customers’ video streams. In some cases, he acted without the knowledge of the customer; in others, he told the customer that he needed temporary access to test the system. Afterwards, Aviles admitted, he showed the video feeds to women he found attractive, and then repeatedly watched the feeds for sexual gratification, including seeing women undressing and watching couples have sex.
“This accused, who is supposed to protect the clients’ homes, rather succumbed to their most intimate moments,” said acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah. “We are happy to hold him accountable for this disgusting betrayal of trust.”
ADT said the breach was discovered last April after a customer complained about an unauthorized email on an account. After investigation, ADT learned that Aviles had added his email to numerous accounts in the Dallas area with the intent of improperly viewing customer feeds.
At that point, the unauthorized access was revoked, Aviles was fired and referred to law enforcement, and ADT notified customers of the violation.
“We apologize to the customers affected by the actions of the former employee and regret the incident,” the company wrote in a statement in April.
“Our customers trust ADT with their safety and protection,” the statement said. “We understand that this incident jeopardizes that trust and is completely unacceptable. We will make extraordinary efforts to regain that trust.”
To that end, the company says it has implemented ‘technical and procedural solutions’ to prevent this type of abuse from happening again, adding that it has enlisted third-party experts to help fully review the privacy and security practices of the company. The company is committed to supporting law enforcement with “everything they need to get justice done to the victims of this former employee.”
“We are grateful to the Dallas FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for holding Telesforo Aviles responsible for a federal crime,” the company said in a statement Friday.
ADT has been sued over the case and is trying to resolve its legal liability through arbitration courts. An ADT spokesman said the company had all the victims of Mr. Aviles identified and contacted.
“We use all the resources at our disposal to ensure their safety, give them peace of mind and try to address all the problems they have,” the company said.