Contractors With Hacking Records Accused of Wiping 96 Government Databases (bleepingcomputer.com) 40
Two Virginia brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, previously convicted of hacking the U.S. State Department, were rehired as federal contractors and are now charged with conspiring to steal sensitive data and destroy government databases after being fired. "Following the termination of their employment, the brothers allegedly sought to harm the company and its U.S. government customers by accessing computers without authorization, issuing commands to prevent others from modifying the databases before deletion, deleting databases, stealing information, and destroying evidence of their unlawful activities," the Justice Department said in a Wednesday press release. BleepingComputer reports: According to court documents, Muneeb Akhter deleted roughly 96 databases containing U.S. government information in February 2025, including Freedom of Information Act records and sensitive investigative documents from multiple federal agencies. One minute after deleting a Department of Homeland Security database, Muneeb Akhter also allegedly asked an artificial intelligence tool for instructions on clearing system logs after deleting a database.
The two defendants also allegedly ran commands to prevent others from modifying the targeted databases before deletion, and destroyed evidence of their activities. The prosecutors added that both men wiped company laptops before returning them to the contractor and discussed cleaning out their house in anticipation of a law enforcement search. The complaint also claims that Muneeb Akhter stole IRS information from a virtual machine, including federal tax data and identifying information for at least 450 individuals, and stole Equal Employment Opportunity Commission information after being fired by the government contractor.
Muneeb Akhter has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and destroy records, two counts of computer fraud, theft of U.S. government records, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. If found guilty, he faces a minimum of two years in prison for each aggravated identity theft count, with a maximum of 45 years on other charges. His brother, Sohaib, is charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and password trafficking, facing a maximum penalty of six years if convicted.
The two defendants also allegedly ran commands to prevent others from modifying the targeted databases before deletion, and destroyed evidence of their activities. The prosecutors added that both men wiped company laptops before returning them to the contractor and discussed cleaning out their house in anticipation of a law enforcement search. The complaint also claims that Muneeb Akhter stole IRS information from a virtual machine, including federal tax data and identifying information for at least 450 individuals, and stole Equal Employment Opportunity Commission information after being fired by the government contractor.
Muneeb Akhter has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and destroy records, two counts of computer fraud, theft of U.S. government records, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. If found guilty, he faces a minimum of two years in prison for each aggravated identity theft count, with a maximum of 45 years on other charges. His brother, Sohaib, is charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and password trafficking, facing a maximum penalty of six years if convicted.
backups (Score:5, Insightful)
They don't do backups at those outfits?
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Backups cost money and anyone with that knowledge was likely purged when Elon was running around with armed security firing people.
Re:backups (Score:4, Interesting)
> They don't do backups at those outfits?
We really need Federal government backups to be centralized at the National Archives.
Both so one expert team can make sure it's done right, instead of hundreds of teams with questionable experience and track records attempting to do it right.
And /also/ so when one agency goes, "whoopise, I guess we deleted the evidence of our crimes!" there is recourse.
Right now, the prosecutor just goes, "shucks, I guess we don't have a case then. Better fire some leaf-node IT contractor."
Backgrounds. (Score:2)
They don't do backups at those outfits?
More to the point, NONE of this data was deemed "sensitive" enough to warrant the most basic of background investigations?
(I'm assuming their former Federal-level hack resulted in a felony charge. When I say basic, I mean fucking basic.)
Should be direct hires with minimum SECRET clearances to access data like that. The fuck are they thinking. Starts with the contracting agency and goes from there. Anyone in .gov could run a simple criminal background investigation even if the contracting agency failed t
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TFS didn't show me any info on whether data was lost.
Was data lost?
Re:DEI hires (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd argue the whole problem here is that they weren't hires at all. They were the cheapest employees that some third party could find to technically meet their terms of service to the government. Contracts for everything is one of the many trends poisoning the US's ability to function as a nation.
And it turns out that loyalty and law abiding are two of the parameters that might matter to a government but isn't a big deal to a government contracting service.
And I think it's also safe to say in 2025 that this approach hasn't saved taxpayers money either. Now we're paying for shoddy work, and the contracting business's profit, instead of just shoddy work.
Re:DEI hires (Score:4, Informative)
Immigrants, and even migrants, have a lower rate of criminal behavior than native born Americans. So blow it out your ass.
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That's a complete bald-headed lie and yet this gets 'Informative' ?
Depends. Was the bald-headed reference somehow oddly accurate?
If so, I'm Informed.
And Enlightened, Entertained, Bewildered and Bullshitted.
We need more tags.
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Re: (Score:2, Informative)
This hack happened in February, after they were fired by the Trump admin. So yeah, these idiots are Biden hires that Trump's team fired.
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How many other hackers who have served time are subsequently hired by the government? Should we complain about that as well? We know of at least one who ran a site which offered services to hackers [computerworld.com], and he was given the keys to the kingdom. How much private data do you think he exfiltrated?
The real issue is, once again, a private company didn't follow basic security proced
Charge the man that hired them too. (Score:5, Insightful)
What possible reason could you have for hiring contractors that have a record of hacking your organization?
I could see hiring people that hacked somebody else.
I could see hiring hackers as direct employees so you can keep a close watch on them.
But hiring a hacking organization as contract employees?
That person was either a) Bribed or b) a Moron.
They need to be fired to prevent them from hiring the same people tomorrow.
Hired by Opexus [Re:Charge the man that hired...] (Score:5, Informative)
The contractor they had been hired by was a company called Opexus; they were hired as engineers working on projects for various agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Energy, Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
Obviously Opexus didn't do a good job at background check.
A few more sites: https://www.bloomberg.com/news... [bloomberg.com]
https://arstechnica.com/inform... [arstechnica.com]
https://cyberscoop.com/muneeb-... [cyberscoop.com]
politics and/or incompetence (Score:3)
Ring wing operatives have long been trying to prove that government doesn't work.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Ring wing operatives have long been trying to prove that government doesn't work.
Right-wing operatives have long been pushing that ALL government work should be done by hiring contractors from private industry. This was an example.
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Privatization was always part of the grift.
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I could see hiring people that hacked somebody else.
Nope. I wouldn't touch them with a 3 meter pole. Idiots, I can usually find simple work for. People who come in with no moral compass cost me more time and effort keeping an eye on than they are worth.
And why would I expect to be treated any differently than their last employer? I'm not speshul.
WHICH man. (Score:2)
While you raise those valid points on that side of the coin, I'll be on the flipside wondering exactly what was in those 96 databases someone directed them to target. The moron contracting with former criminals is only one problem layer here. Doubt it ends there. Doubt it started there.
Perhaps that deserves some light here in the midst of selling the cool enemy behind the gates story.
Re: (Score:1)
This was the era of DOGE. Half of Elon's "elite" team were of questionable origin having criminal records that basically would disqualify them for government work.
Heck, maybe they were DOGE bros - the chaos of what was happening basically let it happen. Even Musk's elite team were copying data off sensitive servers and putting them on on publicly accessible clouds.
The real reason is these guys somehow must've insulated Musk or Trump because they likely could've gotten away with it like DOGE did of slurping
Re:Ah, don't worry... (Score:4, Informative)
Hey it worked for a prolific drug trafficker https://apnews.com/article/hon... [apnews.com]
Deleting a few files is nothing.
Re:Ah, don't worry... (Score:4, Informative)
If they need to make donations it'll have to be to a Democrat. They were fired in February by Trump's people. February (after being fired) is when they committed the crime.
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Stoopid criminals (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyone working in IT who isn't at least aware of the layers of surveillance at any reasonable sized shop is terrible at their job.
And simply as a matter of competence, anyone who does something like this without a plan ("Muneeb Akhter also allegedly asked an artificial intelligence tool for instructions on clearing system logs after deleting a database") is a fucking moron.
Re: (Score:2)
Yup. This is exactly the sort of reference I want for my next job.</sarcasm>
Been through several goivenment audits. (Score:5, Insightful)
It is all just how the paperwork is filled out. Is the box for contractor background checks, checked? Great next item on the list.
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Another interpretation:
Previously convicted hackers where purposefully hired and granted access to databases databases in order to plausibly delete database containing sensitive information some government departments didn't wanted published.
What a convenient way to transgress judges and Freedom of Information Act' requests.
Glad I wasn't the only one at least having some suspicion about that.
While clickbait fans fawn over the kewl enemy behind the gates cover story, I'm more questioning what was IN those databases and who directed them to target them.
Guess we'll know even less and suspect even more when they claim they can't recover them.
As advertised (Score:3)
They moved fast and broke things.
Missed it by *that much* (Score:2)
Two Virginia brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter ...
I was going to snark about how Trump will just pardon them for this "white collar" crime, but then saw their names. Guess they'll either have to buy a *bunch* of his crypto or become presidents of another country, like former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez - convicted of conspiring in smuggling +400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., sentenced to 45 years in prison 1 year ago, and just pardoned (at the recommendation of Roger Stone and others).
How the hell.. this is a face palm. (Score:2)
Quote from the Southern Maryland News [somdnews.com]:
the twins’ family moved to Saudi Arabia in 1996 for their father’s work. They attended a private high school in Saudi Arabia before coming back to the U.S. for college
So who hired people convicted for hostility against our government AND finished education in Saudi Arabia? This is treason th
Found the problem right here (Score:2)