The US Navy was hacked by its own nuclear aircraft carrier

A former sailor assigned to a US nuclear aircraft carrier and another man have been charged with hacking the computer systems of 30 public and private organizations, including the US Navy, the Department of Homeland Security, AT&T, and Harvard University.

The hacking group called Team Digi7al breached at least 24 websites in 2012, including the Navy's own SmartMove system, used to help sailors coordinate changes of address.

The team was looking for social security numbers and other personal data, the raw material for identity theft, targeting sites like the Toronto Police Service and Stanford University. 

Prior to his arrest, after naval investigators traced Tweets to the carrier, and captured the hacker using a “sting” operation, he described himself as a “nuclear black hat hacker”

The attack netted Knight details of 220,000 naval staff, including social security numbers dates of birth and addresses. Knight himself downloaded the entire database using a technique known as an SQL injection attack.

It took an elaborate sting operation to find Digi7al's inside, including a fake database designed as an attractive target, but finally NCIS traced the breach back to Nicholas Paul Knight, the systems administrator for the nuclear reactor onboard the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier. 

There is no evidence that either Knight or other members of Team Digi7al hacked into systems on the Truman itself. He was caught after Tweets were traced to the network, and naval investigators created a fake database, a trap into which he fell.

Author Venkatesh Yalagandula Follow us Google + and Facebook and Twitter