British Nationwide Alleged To Be ‘IntelBroker’ By U.S.

The U.S. is alleging that 25-year-old British nationwide Kai West is the prolific hacker “IntelBroker.”

IntelBroker was arrested in February, the Paris, France Public Prosecutor’s Workplace announced yesterday, whereas additionally revealing that 4 members of the “ShinyHunters” collective that operated the BreachForums cybercrime discussion board had been arrested this week.

French officers didn’t identify IntelBroker or the opposite hackers, however the U.S. named West in a four-count indictment and complaint unsealed yesterday.

How FBI investigators made the connection between West and IntelBroker was detailed within the 15-page grievance filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York.

IntelBroker Mingled Private, On-line Accounts, U.S. Alleges

The U.S. alleges that IntelBroker and the “CyberNiggers” group conspired “to steal information from a telecommunications firm, municipal well being care supplier, an Web service supplier, and greater than 40 different victims,” in keeping with a Justice Division press release saying the unsealing of the court docket paperwork.

West and his co-conspirators “took that stolen data, and provided it on the market on-line for greater than $2 million,” the press launch claims, including that the alleged hackers “prompted in extra of $25 million in damages to victims.”

IntelBroker offered for sale an API key for a particular victim for $250 in Monero cryptocurrency, the complaint said. An undercover agent sent a private message to IntelBroker asking if the threat actor would promote the information for $250 in Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that isn’t as non-public as Monero. IntelBroker gave the agent a specific Bitcoin pockets handle known as “BTC Pockets-1” within the grievance. After the agent despatched the fee, IntelBroker offered the API key “in addition to three purported administrator logins with a password for these logins.”

FBI personnel analyzed BTC Pockets-1’s transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain and linked 4 transactions and two different accounts, dubbed “West Pockets-1” and “Ramp Account-1,” that seeded BTC Pockets-1. The FBI concluded that BTC Pockets-1 was created as a pass-through pockets to obscure funds from Ramp Account-1.

Ramp Account-1 “is related to a specific United Kingdom Provisional Driving License with the identify ‘Kai Logan West,’” who additionally goes by the alias “Kyle Northern,” the U.S. grievance claims. That license can also be related to a specific Coinbase account that investigators stated they linked to West through “Know-Your-Buyer” (KYC) information. The court docket submitting included a picture of that license with some data redacted:

Each Ramp Account-1 and the Coinbase account had been registered to a private e-mail account utilized by West, the U.S. claims. Investigators additionally tied an information storage bill and college correspondence with the e-mail account that they are saying additionally confirms West’s identification.

Accounts registered to West’s e-mail account additionally used the identical IP addresses as “IntelBroker,” the grievance alleges, and the e-mail account additionally had YouTube exercise that overlapped with IntelBroker.

Additionally learn: IntelBroker Interview: The Elusive Hacker in the Shadows Talks to The Cyber Express

‘Harmless Until and Till Confirmed Responsible’

Whether or not the U.S. has sufficient proof to convict West – or elicit a plea deal – is a matter for the courts to determine. Because the press launch famous, “The costs contained within the Indictment and Criticism are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed harmless until and till confirmed responsible.”

West has been charged with conspiracy to commit pc intrusions, which carries a most sentence of 5 years in jail; conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail; accessing a protected pc to acquire data, which carries a most sentence of 5 years in jail; and wire fraud, which carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail.

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