Fergie's Tech Blog

Israeli Hacker Known as 'The Analyzer' Suspected of Hacking Again

Kim Zetter writes on Threat Level:

Canadian authorities have announced the arrest of a 29-year-old Israeli named Ehud Tenenbaum whom they believe is the notorious hacker known as "The Analyzer" who, as a teenager in 1998, hacked into unclassified computer systems belonging to NASA, the Pentagon, the Israeli parliament and others.

Tenenbaum and three Canadians were arrested for allegedly hacking the computer system of a Calgary-based financial services company and inflating the value on several pre-paid debit card accounts before withdrawing about CDN $1.8 million (about U.S. $1.7 million) from ATMs in Canada and other countries. The arrests followed a months-long investigation by Canadian police and the U.S. Secret Service.

Tenenbaum faces six counts of fraudulent use of credit card data and one count of fraud over $5,000. He remains in custody in Calgary without bail, though the three other suspects -- Priscilla Mastrangelo, 30, Jean Francois Ralph, 28, and Sypros Xenoulis, 33 -- have been released on bond, according to a Canadian media report.

An Israeli media outlet contacted Tenenbaum's mother, but she didn't know if it was her son who had been arrested. She told the reporter that her son spends time in France and Canada and that she tried to contact him after news of the arrest went public, but she was unable to reach him.

posted by Fergie @ 9/05/2008 10:16:00 PM