A 34-year-old Virginia guy used to be discovered responsible of conspiring to break dozens of presidency databases upon getting fired from his activity as a federal contractor.
In 2016, Sohaib Akhter and his dual brother and co-defendant Muneeb Akhter have been additionally sentenced to a number of years in jail after pleading responsible to having access to U.S. State Division programs with out authorization and stealing the private knowledge of dozens of fellow workers and a federal regulation enforcement agent who used to be investigating their crimes.
After serving their sentences, the 2 brothers have been rehired as govt contractors by way of an organization that labored with greater than 45 federal companies and hosted govt knowledge on servers in Ashburn.
“When the corporate came upon Sohaib Akhter’s legal conviction, it terminated each brothers’ employment all the way through a web based faraway assembly on Feb. 18, 2025,” the Justice Division stated. “Straight away after being fired all the way through this assembly, the brothers sought to hurt their employer and its U.S. govt shoppers by way of having access to computer systems with out authorization, write-protecting databases, deleting databases, and destroying proof in their illegal actions.”
In November 2025, Muneeb and Sohaib have been once more charged with destruction of data, irritated id robbery, laptop fraud, and robbery of presidency knowledge.
In line with court docket paperwork, the 2 brothers wiped kind of 96 govt databases inside a number of hours in February 2025, together with delicate investigative paperwork from more than one federal companies and Freedom of Knowledge Act data. Moreover, straight away after deleting a Division of Place of birth Safety database, in addition they allegedly requested a synthetic intelligence assistant tips on how to transparent device logs.
Prosecutors added that they allegedly ran instructions to stop others from editing the centered databases sooner than deletion, and destroyed proof in their actions. The boys additionally mentioned cleansing out their area in anticipation of a possible regulation enforcement seek and wiped corporate laptops sooner than returning them to their employer.
“As confirmed at trial, Akhter participated within the unauthorized get entry to of safe laptop programs, the robbery of credentials, and the destruction of presidency knowledge affecting a large number of federal companies,” stated Inspector Basic Jennifer L. Fain of FDIC-OIG.
“The planned deletion of databases containing delicate govt knowledge and the following makes an attempt to hide that illegal activity demonstrated a blatant forget for the protection and integrity of federal knowledge programs.”
Sohaib Akhter shall be sentenced on September 9, 2026, and is going through a most penalty of 21 years in jail.
His brother, Muneeb Akhter, additionally faces a most of 45 years for 2 counts of laptop fraud, conspiring to devote laptop fraud and break data, two counts of irritated id robbery, and robbery of U.S. govt data.
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