A Tennessee man was arrested and charged with federal computer hacking for allegedly conspiring to launch cyber attacks on two universities and three companies since last summer, federal law enforcement officials announced today.
The defendant, TIMOTHY JUSTIN FRENCH, 20, was arrested without incident by FBI agents at his home in Morristown, Tenn., east of Knoxville, last Wednesday.
French waived a detention hearing today in Federal Court in Knoxville, and will be transferred in custody to face prosecution in U.S. District Court in Chicago, where no court date has yet been scheduled.
French was charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse in a criminal complaint that was filed under seal on June 3 and was unsealed upon his arrest.
The investigation identified a computer user named “Orbit,” who was using an internet protocol (IP) address assigned to French’s Morristown, Tenn., address. Records from Twitter accounts associated with NullCrew, a group of hackers, showed that they used various handles to claim responsibility for the attacks, including “Orbit,” “crysis,” “rootcrysis,” and “c0rps3.”
“Cyber crime sometimes involves new-age technology but age-old criminal activity ― unlawful intrusion, theft of confidential information, and financial harm to victims,” said Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “Hackers who think they can anonymously steal private business and personal information from computer systems should be aware that we are determined to find them, to prosecute pernicious online activity, and to protect cyber victims.”
According to the complaint affidavit, NullCrew has used Twitter accounts to announce dozens of attacks against various victims, including the websites of two organizations in July 2012 and eight computer servers belonging to a large company in September 2012. In both instances, the announcements included links to posts on Pastebin, a website that allows uploading of text files for others to view, containing usernames and passwords associated with those victims.
The affidavit states that the FBI has been working with a confidential witness who was invited to join online chats with members of NullCrew. During these chats, which occurred through Skype, Twitter, and CryptoCat, NullCrew members discussed past, present, and future computer hacks, shared current computer vulnerabilities and planned target, and discussed releases of their victims’ information.
The complaint charges French with involvement in five cyber attacks launched by NullCrew: a July 19, 2013, attack on University A, a large public university; a February 1, 2014, attack on Company A, a large Canadian telecommunications company; attacks in early 2014 against University B and California-based Company B, both announced by NullCrew on April 20, 2014 as part of a series of hacking attacks; and an attack against Company C, a large mass media communications company, that NullCrew announced on February 5, 2014.
During each of these instances, information allegedly hacked from the victims’ computers was released by NullCrew and caused significant financial damages to the universities and companies, including the costs of responding to the computer intrusions, conducting damage assessments, and restoring the computer systems.
Related Federal Cases
- Michael J. Radcliffe II, Computer Hacking, New York 2021 · Massachusetts
- Joseph Garrison, Fantasy Sports and Betting Website Hacking, New York 2022 · Florida
- Joseph Garrison, Hacking, Wisconsin 2022 · Illinois
- Timothy Justen French, Computer Damage, Illinois 2015 · Illinois
- Timothy Justen French, Cyber-Attack, Illinois 2023 · Alaska
Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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