A former school soccer coach on the College of Michigan has been charged for hacking into pupil athlete databases at over 100 faculties and universities.
On Thursday, the Justice Division charged 42-year-old Matthew Weiss, a former co-offensive coordinator, for computer-hacking associated crimes that concerned downloading knowledge about greater than 150,000 pupil athletes.
Allegedly, Weiss then used the stolen knowledge to assist him break into the social media, electronic mail, and cloud storage accounts belonging to over 2,000 athletes. “Weiss primarily focused feminine school athletes,” reads the 15-page indictment. “He researched and focused these ladies primarily based on their faculty affiliation, athletic historical past, and bodily traits. His purpose was to acquire personal pictures and movies by no means meant to be shared past intimate companions.”
Federal investigators say Weiss carried out the hacking actions from 2015 to January 2023, when he was placed on leave from the soccer group as campus police started to research the suspected computing-hacking crimes.
Weiss carried out the hacks by first concentrating on a third-party vendor, Keffer Improvement Providers. It operates the Athletic Coach System, which shops medical info on pupil athletes. “Weiss obtained entry to those databases by means of compromising the passwords of accounts with elevated ranges of entry, such because the accounts of trainers and athletic administrators,” the indictment says.
He was additionally capable of obtain the passwords that the athletes themselves used to entry the Athletic Coach System. The downloaded passwords have been encrypted however Weiss decrypted them by researching how to take action on the web, the indictment says.
“Utilizing the mixed info that he obtained from the coed athlete databases and his web analysis, Weiss was capable of get hold of entry to the social media, electronic mail, and/or cloud storage accounts of greater than 2,000 focused athletes by guessing or resetting their passwords,” the court docket doc provides.
Really useful by Our Editors
Allegedly, Weiss additionally went past pupil athletes and broke into the net accounts for 1,300 different college students and alumni. “In at the very least a number of cases, Weiss exploited vulnerabilities in universities account authentication processes to realize entry to the accounts of scholars or alumni,” the indictment says.
Weiss faces 14 counts of unauthorized entry to computer systems and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft, which carries a most penalty of 90 years in jail if he’s convicted of all fees.
Keffer Improvement Providers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Like What You are Studying?
This article could include promoting, offers, or affiliate hyperlinks.
By clicking the button, you affirm you’re 16+ and comply with our
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy.
It’s possible you’ll unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
