Disney Slack attack wasn't Russian protesters, just a Cali dude with malware

When someone stole more than a terabyte of data from Disney last year, it was believed to be the work of Russian hacktivists protesting for artist rights. We now know it was actually a 25-year-old California resident. Ryan Mitchell Kramer has agreed to plead guilty to one count of accessing a computer and obtaining information …

[Excused Boots]

"Ryan Mitchell Kramer has agreed to plead guilty to one count of accessing a computer and obtaining information, and one count of threatening to damage a protected computer, the US Department of Justice said Thursday."

Just out of idle curiosity, what is a 'protected computer'?

It does strike me that if said computer is 'protected' then any threats are meaningless and can simply be ignored, or the threats are credible, in which case the computer isn't really protected at all?

Enquiring minds and all that......

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

A protected computer is one that was hacked, an unprotected computer isn't hacked cos it has nothing on it worth hacking

[doublelayer]

Definition from 18 USC § 1030(e)(2)

the term “protected computer” means a computer— (A) exclusively for the use of a financial institution or the United States Government, or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, used by or for a financial institution or the United States Government and the conduct constituting the offense affects that use by or for the financial institution or the Government; (B) which is used in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or communication, including a computer located outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce or communication of the United States; or (C) that— (i) is part of a voting system; and (ii) (I) is used for the management, support, or administration of a Federal election; or (II) has moved in or otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce;

As far as I can tell, it means any computer that is used by any business or government that operates across state lines, plus a couple more specific categories that are already included in that one. US law doesn't allow federal governments to deal with things like that that happen exclusively inside one state, so it can be simplified even further to "a computer the federal government is allowed to charge you with a crime about". None of this seems to be related to any real or notional protection, so there doesn't seem to be any such concept in the law as an "unprotected computer".

[OhForF']

So in the context of US law a protected computer is one protected by federal law - nothing about any access restrictions or technical/organizational protection measures.

Claiming the computer was not protected as security was not up to the state of the art will not invalidate any charges.

[cyberdemon]

Note to a Hack

> Nullbulge claimed to be an hacking group from Russia

It's only "an" for a word beginning with H if you don't pronounce the 'H'

E.g. "An 'orrendous cyberattack"

But since Hack and Hacking are never pronounced 'ack or 'acker, you do not need the "an" article.

[Excused Boots]

Re: Note to a Hack

There's never a sub-editor around when you need one; is there?

[David 132]

Re: Note to a Hack

You're clearly not a Cockney.

"A" for 'orses, "B" for Mutton, etc etc...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Note to a Hack

Salute !

Grammatik Macht Frei !

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Note to a Hack

Nein.

Grammatik Macht Klar.

[JamesTGrant]

Re: Note to a Hack

Although ‘an ACKing group’ would be a punderful name for a group, regardless of hat colour.

[martinusher]

Good think his name is not Slavic

We allow all sorts in California so its quite likely that our 'acker could have had a Russian or Chinese name. (That would have made them a 'spy'.)

(Can't imagine why anyone would have bothered unless they were working indirectly for MSFT on a project to replace Slack with Teams.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Attribution is difficult. This is why serious outfits don't do it very much, and usually with other supporting evidence. Companies which are easy to provide attribution should lose any credibility that they have.

[Winkypop]

Send him down the river

Steamboat Willie is happy to oblige.

[Dan 55]

Re: Send him down the river

Rather disappointed the thumbnail for this article wasn't the Steamboat Willie troll face meme since the original version of Mickey Mouse is public domain now.

[CowHorseFrog]

Its good Ryan is going to jail, but how is his crime any worse than the entire business model of Google and FaceBook ?

[Valeyard]

Who said that question even came up during trial?

[Tron]

Something to consider next time.

Not sure Russian hacking groups are au fait enough with Western colloquialisms to use the term 'Jack Shit'.

[Robert Carnegie]

Re: Something to consider next time.

That's my screen name at work, comrade. (Da. Comrade. I am old.)