BOMBSHELL INDICTMENT: Twins brothers with hacking history charged with plotting to destroy government databases

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Dear Readers: You might want to sit down for this one.

Back in 2015, twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, now 34, were sentenced to prison for a massive hacking attempt against the U.S. State Department, as well as hacking into the website of a cosmetics company and stealing thousands of its customers’ credit card data, while they were both working for federal contractors. One brother was sentenced to 39 months in prison, and the other was sentenced to 24 months in prison.

After getting out of prison, the brothers then managed to get jobs as engineers with another federal contractor, identified as Washington-based Opexus, a federal contractor that helps process U.S. government records.

On or about February 18 of this year, Opexus informed the brothers that they were being terminated due to their history of hacking-related offenses.  The brothers then allegedly logged in to nearly 100 U.S. government databases at the General Service Administration, including records and documents tied to Freedom of Information Act requests, and much more. They also reportedly hit the IRS and Homeland Security.

Both brothers were just arrested again on Wednesday, December 3.

Here’s more from Cyberscoop.com: Twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter were arrested in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday for allegedly stealing and destroying government data held by a government contractor minutes after they were fired from the company earlier this year, the Justice Department said.

Prosecutors accuse the 34-year-old brothers of the crimes during a weeklong spree in February, compromising data from multiple federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The brothers are no strangers to law enforcement, the hacking community and government contract work.  They previously pleaded guilty in 2015 to wire fraud and conspiring to hack into the State Department and other crimes while they were employed as contractors for federal agencies. Muneeb Akhter was sentenced to 39 months in prison and Sohaib Akhter was sentenced to 24 months in prison at that time.

An investigation aided by more than 20 federal agencies and specialized units alleges the brothers were back at it a decade later, committing cybercrime with privileged access and technical expertise gained from their employment at a government contractor.

The Department of Justice announced in a press release on Wednesday:

According to court documents, brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, both 34, of Alexandria, Virginia, were indicted on Nov. 13 for conspiring to delete databases used to store U.S. government information. Both men were federal contractors. Following the termination of their employment, the brothers allegedly sought to harm the company and its U.S. government customers by accessing computers without authorization, issuing commands to prevent others from modifying the databases before deletion, deleting databases, stealing information, and destroying evidence of their unlawful activities.

The indictment alleges that on or about Feb. 18, Muneeb Akhter deleted approximately 96 databases storing U.S. government information. Many of these databases contained records and documents related to Freedom of Information Act matters administered by federal government departments and agencies, as well as sensitive investigative files of federal government components.

Court documents further allege that approximately one minute after deleting a DHS database, Muneeb Akhter asked an artificial intelligence tool how to clear system logs following the deletion of databases.

According to the indictment, the brothers also discussed cleaning out their house in anticipation of a law enforcement search. The company laptops used by both men were wiped before being returned to the federal contractor.

Muneeb Akhter also allegedly obtained information from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission without authorization after he was fired from the contractor. He is further alleged to have stolen copies of IRS information stored on a virtual machine, including federal tax information and other identifying information of at least 450 individuals.

The indictment also charges Sohaib Akhter with trafficking in a password that could access a computer used by and for the government of the United States.

Muneeb Akhter is charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and to destroy records, two counts of computer fraud, theft of U.S. government records, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Sohaib Akhter is charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and to destroy records and computer fraud (password trafficking). If convicted, Muneeb Akhter faces a mandatory minimum penalty of two years in prison for each aggravated identity theft count and a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison on the remaining charges. If convicted, Sohaib Akhter faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison.

According to Cyberscoop, Muneeb Akhter also allegedly deleted a Homeland Security production database, and copied more than 1,800 files belonging to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC].

CLICK HERE to read the bombshell details from the 2015 case against the brothers.

The brothers graduated college at the age of 19, from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, in May 2011. Both graduated with bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering. Southern Maryland News reported on May 20, 2011:

Born in Maryland, the twins’ family moved to Saudi Arabia in 1996 for their father’s work. They attended a private high school in Saudi Arabia before coming back to the U.S. for college.

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