Three indicted for hacking Lowe's computer system
By Tim Whitmire,
The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three 20-year-old men from Michigan each face 16 federal criminal charges stemming from their alleged conspiracy to hack into the Lowe's home improvement chain's national computer system and attempt to steal credit card information.

Brian Salcedo, Adam Botbyl and Paul Timmins have been indicted on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, computer fraud, unauthorized computer access, intentional transmission of computer code and attempted possession of unauthorized access devices, U.S. Attorney Bob Conrad Jr. said Thursday.

Under the indictment — which was handed up Wednesday in Charlotte — each man could face up to 170 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

The indictment alleges that the trio used a wireless computer card to access the wireless network of a Lowe's store in Southfield, Mich., more than 10 times between Oct. 21 and Nov. 5. The men allegedly used that connection to enter the chain's central computer system in North Wilkesboro, N.C., and to eventually reach computer systems in Lowe's stores across the country.

According to the indictment, Botbyl and Timmins discovered a weakness in the Lowe's system in April while driving around Southfield ... in an automobile equipped for searching for vulnerable wireless Internet connections using a laptop computer equipped with a wireless card and a wireless antenna — an activity known as wardriving.

Once inside the central Lowe's system, the men installed a program in the computer systems of several stores that was designed to capture credit card information from customers, the indictment said.

Lowe's officials have said the alleged hackers did not gain access to the company's national database and that they believe all customers' credit card information is secure.

A company spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday on the indictments, citing the ongoing investigation into the case.

Timmins and Botbyl appeared Nov. 10 before a federal judge in Michigan. A warrant for Salcedo's arrest was issued two days later.

Salcedo, of Whitmore Lake, Mich., is being held without bond; Botbyl and Timmins, both of Waterford, Mich., have been released on $10,000 unsecured bonds.

According to a 2000 news release issued by then-Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, Brian Salcedo, then 17, faced state criminal charges for allegedly hacking into an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based nonprofit Internet service company.

Officials at the office of the state's current attorney general did not immediately return a call Thursday seeking details on how that case was resolved.

At a Nov. 10 court appearance in Michigan, Timmins said he is a $38,000-a-year computer network and security specialist for a Southfield software company. Botbyl said he is a student at ITT Technical Institute in Troy.

A telephone message left after-hours for the federal public defender who represented Timmins and Botbyl at the November hearing was not immediately returned.

No initial court hearing on the charges in North Carolina had been scheduled Thursday.

The full article is at USAToday