NYPD cop arrested, accused of paying $4,000 to hack fellow officers’ e-mail

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/nypd-cop-arrested-accused-of-paying-4000-to-hack-fellow-officers-e-mail/

By Cyrus Farivar
Ars Technica
May 29 2013

It’s no surprise that many computer crimes have stupid criminals behind 
them. But it’s not every day that you have cops getting caught at their 
workplace.

A New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer has been arrested and 
accused of paying more than $4,000 via Paypal for “e-mail hacking 
services.” The officer used this service to gain access to “at least 43 
personal e-mail accounts and one cellular phone belonging to at least 30 
different individuals, including 21 who are affiliated with the NYPD; of 
those 21, 19 are current NYPD officers, one is a retired NYPD officer, 
and one is on the NYPD’s administrative staff.”

NYPD Detective Edwin Vargas was charged last week with one count of 
conspiracy to commit computer hacking and one count of computer 
hacking—each count carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. He 
has since been suspended with pay by the NYPD as per normal department 
policy.

The complaint was sent to Ars by the United States Attorney’s Office. It 
alleges the Bronx-based detective hired an “e-mail hacking service” to 
reach those 43 accounts between March 2011 and October 2012. He is 
believed to have accessed “at least one personal e-mail account 
belonging to a current NYPD officer after receiving the account’s log-in 
credentials from the hacking service. Vargas also accessed the [National 
Crime Information Center], a federal database, to obtain information 
about at least two of those NYPD officers without authorization to do 
so.”

[...]

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