Security News > 2023 > March > Pair accused of breaking into US law enforcement database, posing as cops

The US Attorney's Office for the district alleged Sagar Steven Singh and Nicholas Ceraolo had not only blackmailed victims using their personal info by threatening to post it on a public-facing website, but they also made "Emergency requests" to social media companies asking for information about users.

It might interest readers to know that Twitter, for example, had 11,500 requests for information on 28,000 accounts worldwide from government and law enforcement officials from July to December 2021.

It's not known which platform or platforms were targeted with emergency requests in the federal database case.

The database in question has "Detailed, nonpublic records of narcotics and currency seizures", as well as "Law enforcement intelligence reports" - meaning it is possibly a Drug Enforcement Administration database, although the complaint didn't spell this out.

The complaint alleges Singh and Ceraolo used a police officer's credentials to access "a nonpublic, password-protected web portal" maintained by a US federal law enforcement agency without authorization.

The purpose of the portal, says the US Attorney's Office, is to share intelligence from government databases with state and local law enforcement agencies.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/03/15/vile_crime_group_suspect_arrested/