MyVisionTest News Archive
Jun 15, 2008
Visually impaired hacker arrested
Less than two months after celebrating his 18th birthday, a blind, East Boston-based phone hacker has been arrested for paying a Sunday afternoon visit to the Verizon security officer who'd been chasing him.
Matthew Weigman, known on the telephone chat lines as Li'l Hacker, is charged in federal court in Dallas with obstruction of justice after he was picked up by local police in Amherst, New Hampshire over Memorial Day weekend.
Weigman is widely considered one of the best active phone hackers alive. Relying on an ironclad memory and detailed knowledge of the phone system, he uses social engineering to manipulate phone company workers and others into divulging confidential information, and into entering commands into computers and telephone switching equipment on his behalf.
"I've been interested in phones since I've been about 8," Weigman said in an interview last year. "I talked to technicians when they came down here to do things on my phone."
In April, Verizon noticed that Weigman had used the name and identifying information of a Texas woman to turn on phone service at the East Boston apartment he shares with his mother and siblings.
When William Smith, a Verizon security investigator, disconnected the fraudulent account, Weigman turned it back on again.
Then Weigman allegedly began making harassing phone calls to Smith at his house. To trick the security worker into picking up the phone, the hacker allegedly social engineered phone company employees into sharing Smith's billing records in near-real time, then used Caller ID spoofing to make Smith think someone was returning his own calls.
Smith began complaining about the harassment to the FBI. Smith told the FBI that he was worried that Weigman would use his phone hacking skills to send a SWAT team to his house, and that he was warning the local police so "there would be less chance of accidental injury."
Instead, on May 18, Weigman showed up at his house personally.
According to the FBI, Smith felt threatened with physical violence by Weigman, despite Weigman being blind.
Read more...
Wired News
Tags: blindness, computers
Less than two months after celebrating his 18th birthday, a blind, East Boston-based phone hacker has been arrested for paying a Sunday afternoon visit to the Verizon security officer who'd been chasing him.Matthew Weigman, known on the telephone chat lines as Li'l Hacker, is charged in federal court in Dallas with obstruction of justice after he was picked up by local police in Amherst, New Hampshire over Memorial Day weekend.
"I've been interested in phones since I've been about 8," Weigman said in an interview last year. "I talked to technicians when they came down here to do things on my phone."
In April, Verizon noticed that Weigman had used the name and identifying information of a Texas woman to turn on phone service at the East Boston apartment he shares with his mother and siblings.
When William Smith, a Verizon security investigator, disconnected the fraudulent account, Weigman turned it back on again.
Then Weigman allegedly began making harassing phone calls to Smith at his house. To trick the security worker into picking up the phone, the hacker allegedly social engineered phone company employees into sharing Smith's billing records in near-real time, then used Caller ID spoofing to make Smith think someone was returning his own calls.
Smith began complaining about the harassment to the FBI. Smith told the FBI that he was worried that Weigman would use his phone hacking skills to send a SWAT team to his house, and that he was warning the local police so "there would be less chance of accidental injury."
Instead, on May 18, Weigman showed up at his house personally.
According to the FBI, Smith felt threatened with physical violence by Weigman, despite Weigman being blind.
Read more...
Wired News
