Wi-Fi hacker gets 18 years for terrorizing neighbors

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/minnesota-wi-fi-hacker-gets-18-years-prison-032803295.html

Minnesota Wi-Fi hacker gets 18 years in prison for terrorizing neighbors

By Jeff Hughes | Digital Trends – 16 hrs ago

Minnesota hacker Barry Ardolf was sentenced to an 18-year term in a federal prison this Tuesday. Ardolf had terrorized a neighboring family for two years through a carefully planned campaign involving a hijacked Wi-Fi network to harass, frame and embarrass the next-door neighbors in every facet of their lives.

Ardolf’s obsessive passive-aggression was apparently ignited in late 2008 when his neighbors, Matt and Bethany Kostolnik, filed a police report against him. The Kostolniks had a 4-year old son who wandered over to their next-door-neighbors property shortly after moving into the Minnesota suburb of Blaine. Ardolf, 46 and a father of two, had reportedly picked the boy up carried him back to the couple and then kissed the child on the lips. Ardolf was offended when the cops were called and vowed his revenge like every good villain.

The man, a Medtronic computer technician, downloaded a Wi-Fi hacking program to tear into his neighbors WEP encryption. Ardolf created a fake Myspace page as well as several fake emails for Matt Kostolnik. The hacker then posted child porn on the Myspace page and emailed the same child porn to co-workers at Kostolnik’s law office.

To top it all off, the Blaine hacker sent death threats to Vice President Joe Biden and other politicians from Kostolnik’s Yahoo account. This granted Kostolnik a visit from the secret service who had traced the emails back to his IP address. One of the emails told Biden, “I swear to God I’m going to kill you!”

Ardolf’s mischief was detected when a frustrated Kostolnik told bosses he had no clue as to what was going on. The law office hired a firm to poke around the Wi-Fi network and install a packet sniffer to figure it all out. Eventually Ardolf’s name and Comcast account were found which gave the FBI a reason to obtain a search warrant for Ardolf’s house. They found massive evidence that led to the Blaine hacker being slapped with charges for identity theft, making threats against Biden, possession of child pornography as well as distribution of kiddie-porn.

The FBI also found evidence that Ardolf had staged a similar attack against in a family in Brooklyn Park for parking their cars in front of his house. Ardolf’s charges will tag him with lifetime-sex-offender registration requirements and after his release he’ll be supervised for 20 years.

According to the Pioneer Press, he’ll also be restricted when working with computers by his parole officers. The man may have been a nightmare to live next to, but is the 18 years in prison a bit overkill?

[Fandango 1,439]

I would assume he's going to jail for a litany of charges; obviously including child porn, and I would also assume some sort of charge for threatening the VP? That's some pretty jacked up stuff.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I would assume he's going to jail for a litany of charges; obviously including child porn, and I would also assume some sort of charge for threatening the VP? That's some pretty jacked up stuff.

This story is definitely movie material. I'm glad this guy wasn't my neighbor.

[Matt&Divorced 0]

The most disturbing part is the ability to hack into a computer using it's own wi fi account and place files on it so you'd be pinned with a criminal offense. Enemy of the State movie comes to mind.

[mawilson 2,133]

This guy is a villain extraordinaire. I'm really upset he got caught. Not a happy ending.

[웃 910]

This guy is a villain extraordinaire. I'm really upset he got caught. Not a happy ending.

No. He is an idiot. My younger brother can do what he did.

Say your email is mawilson@yahoo

I can have him send me an email that looks like it is from you and he can write whatever subject line and message he wants.

Edited July 14, 2011 by Lord Infamous

[rsn 135]

The most disturbing part is the ability to hack into a computer using it's own wi fi account and place files on it so you'd be pinned with a criminal offense. Enemy of the State movie comes to mind.

This can easily happen to anyone with an unsecured wifi network.

[mawilson 2,133]

No. He is an idiot. My younger brother can do what he did.

Say your email is mawilson@yahoo

You'd have to send it to an SMTP server which is dumb enough not to require authentication

or even basic reverse domain verification (which is to make sure that 123.45.67.89

resolves to myserver.abcdef.com and that myserver.abcdef.com resolves back to 123.45.67.89.)

If the SMTP server requires authentication, it doesn't matter who you claim to be,

because it knows who you are, and there's a log the FBI can subpoena.

If it doesn't, chances are Yahoo won't even accept e-mail from it. Yahoo servers

are very picky these days and require that you send them a form listing your

server's IPs and company name so they can whitelist it.

Regardless, I can still look at the SMTP headers and find out who really sent the email.

[웃 910]

You'd have to send it to an SMTP server which is dumb enough not to require authentication

or even basic reverse domain verification (which is to make sure that 123.45.67.89

resolves to myserver.abcdef.com and that myserver.abcdef.com resolves back to 123.45.67.89.)

If the SMTP server requires authentication, it doesn't matter who you claim to be,

because it knows who you are, and there's a log the FBI can subpoena.

If it doesn't, chances are Yahoo won't even accept e-mail from it. Yahoo servers

are very picky these days and require that you send them a form listing your

server's IPs and company name so they can whitelist it.

Regardless, I can still look at the SMTP headers and find out who really sent the email.

You are talking funny (using tech jargon) but if I want my brother to send anyone an email from mawilson@gmail or mawilson@yahoo or wherever it will arrive there and the person that receives it will think it is from you.

But I'm sure it is easy for someone that understands 'puters' to trace it back to the real sender.

[mawilson 2,133]

You are talking funny (using tech jargon) but if I want my brother to send anyone an email from mawilson@gmail or mawilson@yahoo or wherever it will arrive there and the person that receives it will think it is from you.

But I'm sure it is easy for someone that understands 'puters' to trace it back to the real sender.

The question is, can your brother send it in a way that would make the FBI believe it was really me who sent it?

He'd have to hack my wi-fi, hack my computer and hack my Yahoo account to make his message

appear in my "Sent Mail", as if I sent it myself.

That's what the guy in the OP did.

[SMR 368]

This can easily happen to anyone with an unsecured wifi network.

Technically his network wasn't unsecured. He had WEP encryption. Not the best. But encryption nonetheless.

[rsn 135]

Technically his network wasn't unsecured. He had WEP encryption. Not the best. But encryption nonetheless.

I'm surprised wireless access points still ship with WEP as an option.

Edited July 14, 2011 by rsn