Federal prosecutors in Western Washington on Thursday charged a large jury with a charge A Swiss citizen accused by the US of hacking dozens of companies and government agencies.
According to Bloomberg, Tillie Kottman, a 21-year-old hacker, received credit for intruding on major US companies such as Nissan and Intel, which made the news about break last week at a California-based security camera company; another hack that Kottmann allegedly claimed.
U.S. lawyers allege that Kottmann, in consultation with others online, obtained stolen evidence and gained access to protected systems to steal confidential records and code. The stolen data was hosted on a private website seized by the FBI, as well as on Telegram and other services.
Prosecutors say notable targets were a safety equipment company, a tactical equipment manufacturer, a carmaker and a financial investment firm.
At one point, it was said that a website run by the hackers contained data from more than 100 companies, including Adobe, Toyota, Pepsi, Microsoft, AMD, Motorola, GE Appliances, Disney, Nintendo and more.
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Cyber-intel news site The Record reports that Kottmann relied on incorrect configuration to access and link protected data to an FBI industry alert warned in October that hackers were using default password settings in corporate and government software.
The FBI said it was working closely with the Swiss authorities, who performed a search of Kottmann’s apartment last week in Lucerne, Switzerland, allegedly confiscated electronic devices.
The raid follows reports of a security breach at Verkada, a startup of a Silicon Valley security camera, after which Bloomberg reported that Kottmann had obtained credit. The investigation into Kottmann’s home was apparently part of a separate investigation.
The U.S. investigation into Tillmann, who uses the pronouns, is being assisted by police officers in Lucerne and the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, officials said.
“The theft of credentials and data and the publication of source code and proprietary and sensitive information on the Internet is not protected speech; it is theft and fraud,” U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a statement. “These actions can increase vulnerability for everyone, from large businesses to individual consumers.”
“Wrapping yourself in an alleged altruistic motive does not remove the criminal stench of such intrusion, theft and fraud,” she added.
Prosecutors say Kottmann – who describes Bloomberg as an ‘anti-intellectual property ideology’ – is just one member of a collective behind the hacks.
In the case of Verkada, the group was able to access the live feeds of about 150,000 security cameras in prisons, schools, police departments and more.
Kottmann is represented by Marcel Bosonnet, who acted as Edward Snowden’s lawyer in Switzerland.