Dallas security guard facing charges for installing malware on hospital computers

hackers A Dallas security guard charged with hacking the computer system of the hospital he worked for was busted by a fellow hacker, but didn’t help his case when he posted videos of his exploits on YouTube.  Jesse McGraw, known by the hacker name GhostExodus, posted videos to YouTube in which he claimed to be breaking into a major corporate building, and as the “Mission: Impossible” theme played in the background, he was shown installing malware on several computers.  In actuality, McGraw was in the hospital he worked at.

“He’s a security guard at the hospital, but he’s pretending to infiltrate a corporate office and he’s running around with a hoodie on over his security guard uniform and installing botnet software on a hospital computer all to the Mission Impossible music,” said security researcher Wesley McGrew. “[You] can’t make this stuff up.”

Wesley McGrew is the one who busted Jesse McGraw after another member of McGrew’s hacker group, the Electronik Tribulation Army, bragged to him about the hospital hacking and tried to take credit for it.  McGrew investigated and eventually discovered that McGraw was the one responsible.

McGraw was either auditioning for “America’s Dumbest Criminals” or was overly full of himself and made the mistake of thinking he was invincible.  His blunders included typing on the computer he used to install malware on the hospital’s network and then putting on gloves to prevent leaving fingerprints, wearing a mask to hide his identity but then holding up a fake FBI ID to the camera that had his picture on it, and of course, posting everything to YouTube!

The FBI said McGraw intended to use the malware to launch a massive DDoS attack on July 4th, the day after his last day of employment there.  Some of the malware was installed on computers that held sensitive patient data and on the system that controlled the hospital’s heating, air conditioning and ventilation.  He’s now facing felony charges of computer intrusion.  If convicted he’ll likely have plenty of time to think about finding a new hobby!

Read [PCWorld]

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