Malaysian National Allegedly Hacked Federal Reserve Bank, Department of Defense Contractor and More
After arriving at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in late October, Lin Mun Poo, a 32 year-old resident of Malaysia traveling to the US on a business trip was greeted by Secret Service Agents who arrested him and seized his laptop computer.
This wasn’t a typical business trip, however. Federal authorities claim Mr. Poo traveled to the United States for the purpose of obtaining stolen financial account information from computer hackers, which he planned to use and sell for a profit.
Not only did Lin Mun Poo purchase stolen financial data from others, he was a career hacker himself. Authorities say that data on Poo’s seized laptop was strongly encrypted and contained a large number of financial account records and personal identifying information that he had allegedly obtained by hacking into various computer systems.
After being been held in custody since his arrest on October 21, 2010, a federal grand jury charged Lin Mun Poo last week with hacking into a computer network of the Federal Reserve Bank of Clevland and holding over 400,000 stolen credit and debit card numbers.
“These crimes not only affect our nation’s financial infrastructure, but are also an ongoing threat to our national security. The Secret Service is committed to deploying cutting edge investigative practices and technology in order to bring these offenders to justice,” said Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Parr.
Mr. Poo also managed to successfully hack into FedComp, a data processor for federal credit unions, enabling him to access the data of various federal credit unions, including the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York and the Mercer County New Jersey Teachers.
The defendant’s cybercrime activities extended to the national security sector, the Department of Justice says. According to the government’s pleadings and detention letter, in approximately August 2010, Poo hacked into the computer system of a Department of Defense contractor that provides systems management for military transport and other military operations, potentially compromising highly sensitive military logistics information.
Lin Mun Poo faces a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment if convicted of the most serious offenses.
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