Federal prosecutors in Western Washington secured a grand jury indictment on Thursday against a Swiss citizen accused by the US of hacking dozens of companies and government agencies.
Tillie Kottman, a 21-year-old hacker, allegedly took credit for hacking into major U.S. companies like Nissan and Intel, according to Bloomberg, which broke the news of a violation at a California-based security camera company last week; another hack alleged by Kottmann.
US prosecutors allege that Kottmann, along with others online, acquired stolen credentials and accessed protected systems to steal confidential codes and records. The stolen data was hosted on a private website that was seized by the FBI, as well as on Telegram and other services, the billing documents say.
Prosecutors say the notable targets include a security device company, a tactical equipment manufacturer, an automobile manufacturer and a financial investment company.
At one point, a hacker-run website contained data from more than 100 companies, including Adobe, Toyota, Pepsi, Microsoft, AMD, Motorola, GE Appliances, Disney, Nintendo and more.
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Cyber-intel The Record news site reports that Kottmann relied on the wrong configuration to gain access to protected data and linked it for an FBI industry alert in October, warning of hackers taking advantage of the default password settings in corporate and government software.
The FBI said it is working closely with the Swiss authorities, which performed a search from Kottmann’s apartment last week in Lucerne, Switzerland, allegedly seizing electronic devices.
The operation came after reports of a security breach at Verkada, a Silicon Valley security camera startup, for which Bloomberg said Kottmann took the credit. The search at Kottmann’s home was reported as part of a separate investigation at the time.
Tillmann’s American investigation, which uses the pronouns they / they are, is being assisted by police in Luzerne and by the Swiss Federal Justice Office, officials said.
“Stealing credentials and data and publishing source code and proprietary and confidential information on the web is not protected speech – it is theft and fraud,” said US prosecutor Tessa M. Gorman in a statement. “These actions can increase the vulnerabilities of everyone, from large corporations to individual consumers.”
“Engaging in an allegedly altruistic motive does not remove the criminal stench of such intrusion, theft and fraud,” she added.
Prosecutors say Kottmann – whom Bloomberg describes as having an “anti-intellectual property ideology” – is just a member of a collective behind the hacks.
In the case of Verkada, the group was able to gain access to live broadcasts from around 150,000 surveillance cameras inside prisons, schools, police departments and more.
Kottmann is represented by Marcel Bosonnet, who served as Edward Snowden’s attorney in Switzerland.