Lauri Love, a 28-year-old British man, allegedly managed to hack into the computer systems of multiple U.S. government agencies, including the NASA and the Missile Defense Agency, according to a statement released Monday by the office of New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.
The statement said Love was arrested by authorities on Friday in England after he was charged in U.S. federal court with one count of “accessing a U.S. department or agency computer without authorization and one count of conspiring to do the same.”
An indictment unsealed in Newark federal court said Love, who was also allegedly known as “nsh,” “route,” and “peace,” worked with multiple co-conspirators in online chatrooms to compromise the systems and steal personally identifiable information of thousands of government employees and contractors. If convicted, the U.S. attorney’s office said Love faces as many as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, on each of the two counts with which he is charged.”
