On Wednesday, the Department of Justice revealed that two twin brothers from Virginia have been arrested on charges related to the destruction of a government database managed by a federal contractor.
Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, both 34, were indicted back in November for allegedly conspiring to wipe out a database that stores government information.
Muneeb faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, destruction of records, two counts of computer fraud, theft of government records, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Sohaib, on the other hand, has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, destruction of records, and computer fraud.
In May, two former federal contractors disclosed how they accessed sensitive data from various government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the General Services Administration (GSA).
Previously, in 2016, the Akhter brothers pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges linked to a data breach involving the State Department and a cosmetic company. They had worked for Opexus, a federal contractor focused on processing government records.
One digital outlet noted:
The Justice Department, in its latest announcement regarding the brothers, stated that after they were let go as federal contractors, they allegedly attempted to harm their former employers and U.S. government clients by unauthorized access to computers, issuing orders to prevent database modifications before deleting them, and then stealing information along with destroying evidence of their wrongdoing.
The indictment claims that in February, Muneeb Akhter deleted nearly 100 databases containing U.S. government material, many of which held federal Freedom of Information Act records and sensitive investigative files.
After he deleted a database related to the Department of Homeland Security, Muneeb allegedly sought assistance from an AI platform on how to erase system logs related to that deletion.
It was reported that the brothers expressed concern about a possible police raid and discussed cleaning up their residence.
After Muneeb was dismissed from Opexus, he allegedly accessed information from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission without authorization, as well as stealing IRS data housed on virtual machines. This data included personal and tax information for at least 450 individuals.
“The defendants abused their roles as federal contractors to target government databases and steal sensitive information. Their actions undermined the security of government systems and hindered governmental agencies’ ability to serve the public,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a statement.
