Child pornographer hacks prison network, gives inmates access to 1,100 prison employee files
Monday, November 10th, 2008More than 1,000 current and former Massachusetts prison employees are at risk of identity theft—and more—after their names, home addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and Social Security numbers were exposed in a data breach.
Francis Janosko used his time as a prisoner at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility to hack into the prison’s computer network and reconfigure it to allow other inmates to access the employees’ information, according to a grand jury indictment.
Inmates at the Plymouth prison are allowed computer access to perform legal research, but were not given access to the Internet, e-mail or the prison network.
Janosko was arrested in North Carolina last week following an FBI investigation and charge with intentional damage to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft. If he is convicted, the computer charge carries a fine of up to $250,000; the aggravated identity theft charge could result in a two-year prison sentence.
Janosko was serving time in the Massachusetts prison after police found pictures of nude children on his cell phone. It was the third time he was charged with child pornography. The state of Massachusetts has had Janosko listed as a high-risk sex offender since 2005.