Hacker Who Stole Lawmaker Knowledge From Insurance coverage Market Charged

A hacker recognized on-line as “IntelBroker” and who has a historical past of spilling delicate data faces a four-count felony indictment in the US after French police arrested him in February.

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IntelBroker’s true id is British nationwide Kai West, U.S. federal Manhattan prosecutors stated Wednesday. They’re in search of his extradition to the US for conspiracy to hacking, wire fraud and conspiracy.

The announcement of West’s indictment comes after information broke in France that authorities rounded up suspected directors of once-notorious, now-defunct stolen information market BreachForums (see: French Police Reportedly Bust 5 BreachForums Directors).

IntelBroker was a high-profile presence on BreachForums, which recognized him from final August by January as the positioning’s proprietor. IntelBroker introduced his retirement on social media in January. West has additionally led a hacking group generally known as “CyberN******.”

IntelBroker claimed accountability in March 2023 for hacking into the web medical health insurance market utilized by members of Congress and residents of Washington, D.C. (see: Hackers Promote US Lawmaker Knowledge Stolen From Insurance coverage Market).

In a hacking spree that started in January 2023 and lasted by to his arrest, West and his co-conspirators prompted $25 million in losses, a grievance in opposition to him states.

Amongst IntelBroker’s hacks is the January 2023 theft of U.S. wi-fi telecom UScellular buyer information stolen from a 3rd get together. In April 2024, he claimed to have hacked right into a U.S. federal authorities contractor (see: US State Division Investigating Hacking Claims).

He additionally focused a nationwide grocery supply service and a division of Common Electrical that works on collaborative initiatives with the Protection Superior Analysis Tasks Company.

Investigators stated they caught West by shopping for $250 price of stolen information from him by Bitcoin. Tracing the transaction led them to the Ramp crypto buying and selling platform – the place West registered utilizing his driver’s license. Investigators obtained an electronic mail tackle and located that West apparently accessed it from the identical IP tackle used to hold out penetrations. West additionally used the identical electronic mail tackle to register his X social media account as he did to enroll in a VPN.

West additionally apparently loved studying about himself, in line with YouTube historical past information included within the federal grievance in opposition to him. He watched a video in April 2024 about one in all his information leaks, and in January 2024 he repeat watched a 16 minute video purportedly with IntelBroker that claimed the hacker spoke Serbian and Russian however not English. About 3 times between January 2024 and Could 2024, he watched a video containing information clips about his exploits set to digital music.

West is not going to be the one alleged hacker to face prosecution in New York federal court docket. The grievance in opposition to him states that a minimum of one different suspected co-conspirator “is predicted to be first introduced and arrested within the Southern District of New York.”