Tag Archives: CFAA

Texas Developer Sentenced to 4 Years for “Kill Switch” Cyberattack on Former Employer

A former Eaton Corp. software developer received a 4-year federal prison sentence for deploying a “kill switch” that locked out thousands of users and caused over $360,000 in damages. Learn what happened and key lessons for businesses to prevent insider threats.

Neural Privacy is Where It’s At — Brain Scanning Technology is Causing States to Look at Protecting the Privacy of Our Thoughts

UPDATES 2024.03.15 Neuralink is now being used to play chess! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfwzfP8cp3A This morning I read an article about how brain scanning technology is causing Colorado and Minnesota to propose legislation that is aimed at establishing rights and protections for information collected from our thoughts through the neural signals that can be scanned and collected from …

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Feds Will Not Charge Good Faith Security Research Under the CFAA

On May 19, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice directed prosecutors to not charge security researchers who report cybersecurity vulnerabilities in “good faith” with violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The DOJ’s press release titled Department of Justice Announces New Policy for Charging Cases under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act …

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Scientists warn brain implants can be hacked and used to control people (and you thought I was kidding?)

Back in early 2012, I wrote a blog post about whether hacking a human would violate the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Shortly after publishing it, I received a call from a guy in Austin who said: “dude, someone finally gets it, I need your help!” … I responded that I was a lawyer, …

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What does it mean to “hack back” and is it a good idea?

There is more and more talk about companies hacking back against those who attack them in cyber space and whether allowing them to take such measures is a good idea. Right now, hacking back, or active defense, as it is often called, is illegal under the federal unauthorized access law, the Computer Fraud and Abuse …

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Fifth Circuit Upholds CFAA Conviction for Former Employee’s Misuse Causing Damage Based on Circumstantial Evidence

In United States v. Anastasio N. Laoutaris, 2018 WL 614943 (5th Cir. Jan. 29, 2018), the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a jury verdict finding Laoutaris guilty of two counts of computer intrusion causing damage, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A) and (c)(4)(B)(i) of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Laoutaris …

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Hacking Into A Company You Sold Can Get You Jail Time

A federal judge sentenced David Kent to a year and a day in prison and ordered him to pay $3.3 million in restitution and pay a $20,000 fine for accessing the computer network of Rigzone.com, an industry-specific networking website. Kent founded Rigzone.com, sold it for $51 million, and after the sale accessed the company’s network to obtain …

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Trying to DDoS the White House Website to Protest Trump’s Inauguration Violates CFAA

There has been a lot of buzz this past week about protesters indicating they plan to protest President-Elect Trump’s inauguration by launching a DDoS attack on the White House website. This plan has received some high-profile publicity by articles in magazines such as Forbes and PC World. I initially learned of this discussion when I …

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Top 3 CFAA Takeaways from Facebook v. Power Ventures Case in Ninth Circuit

Here are my top 3 key Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) takeaways from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Order and Amended Opinion issued on December 9, 2016 in Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc. 1.  A violation of the CFAA can occur when someone “has no permission to access a computer or when such permission …

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Is Key Claim Missing from Pastor’s Lawsuit Over Wife’s Nude Pics Emailed to Swinger Site?

Should a claim for [YOU GUESS] have been included in this lawsuit? See my thoughts below and share your thoughts. The Allegations Behind the Lawsuit A legal team led by Gloria Allred made news by suing Toyota (and others) on behalf of a Frisco, Texas pastor and his wife, Tim  and Claire Gautreaux, alleging that a …

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