UGNazi

UGNazi (Underground Nazi Hacktivist Group) is a hacker group. The group conducted a series of cyberattacks, including social engineering, data breach, and denial-of-service attacks, on the websites of various organizations in 2012. Two members of UGNazi were arrested in June 2012; one was incarcerated.[1][2] In December 2018, two members of UGNazi were arrested in connection with a murder in Manila.[3]

Attacks

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In January 2012, UGNazi defaced the website of Ultimate Fighting Championship in response to the UFC's support of the Stop Online Piracy Act.[4] On April 24, 2012, UGNazi performed distributed denial-of-service attacks on the websites of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Justice in protest of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.[5]

In May 2012, after compromising a database belonging to the Washington Military Department, UGNazi leaked sensitive DNS information used by the US state of Washington. They also leaked the account details of about 16 users, consisting of usernames and password hashes, including those of the website's administrator.[6] UGNazi performed a social engineering attack on web host billing software developer WHMCS.[7] A member of the group called WHMCS' hosting provider, impersonating a senior employee.[8] They gained root access to WHMCS's web server and leaked WHMCS's SQL database, website files, and cPanel configuration. The leaked database contained about 500,000 stored credit card numbers.[7][8][9][10]

On June 4, 2012, UGNazi targeted 4chan with a DNS hijacking attack through a vulnerability in Cloudflare's use of Google's two-factor authentication system, redirecting visitors to UGNazi's Twitter account.[11] UGNazi attacked the non-profit organization Wounded Warrior Project and released the Project's database on June 6, 2012.[12] In June of 2012, the leader of UGNazi stole the information of over 411,000 credit cards and compromised over 47 companies and government organizations estimating to be around $205 million.[13] On June 8, 2012, UGNazi hacked the website of Wawa Inc and defaced their webpage.[14] On June 21, 2012, UGNazi claimed they took popular social media website Twitter down for two hours via a denial of service attack.[15] Sam Biddle of Gizmodo disputed the veracity of the claim.[16]

UGNazi hacked into the Twitter accounts of Shirley Phelps-Roper on December 17, 2012, and Fred Phelps Jr. on December 19, 2012, in opposition to the Westboro Baptist Church's planned protest following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.[17][18]

In January 2021, Parler CEO John Matze alleged to Fox News that UGNazi was actively working to facilitate targeted harassment of himself and his family following the temporary take-down of Parler, a far-right social network implicated in the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.[19]

Arrests and sentencing

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Mir Islam ("Josh the God") and Eric Taylor ("Cosmo the God") of UGNazi were arrested on June 26, 2012 as a result of Operation Card Shop, a Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation into identity theft and credit card fraud. Islam was apprehended in Manhattan after he attempted to withdraw money using a stolen ATM card.[1] On November 7, 2012, Taylor was sentenced in juvenile court in Long Beach, California. Taylor pleaded guilty to multiple felonies, including credit card fraud, identity theft, bomb threats, and online impersonation, in exchange for a probation. The terms of the plea placed him on probation until his 21st birthday, restricted his internet access, and required him to forfeit seized assets.[2][20][21]

On December 24, 2018, members Troy Woody ("Osama the God") and Islam were arrested in Manila on murder charges related to the death of Tomi Masters, Woody's girlfriend.[3][22][23] Woody and Islam dumped a box containing Masters's body in the Pasig River.[3] Both members of UGNazi confirmed that they handled the box, but individually denied killing Masters.[3] Woody and Islam pleaded not guilty to the charges on February 11, 2019, and the trial was scheduled for March 13.[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b Zetter, Kim (June 26, 2012). "Feds Arrest 24 in Global Carding Ring Bust". Wired. Condé Nast Publications. Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Honan, Mat (November 9, 2012). "Teenage Hacker 'Cosmo the God' Sentenced by California Court". Wired. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Bernstein, Joseph; Alba, Davey (February 5, 2019). ""Down The Rabbit Hole I Go": How A Young Woman Followed Two Hackers' Lies To Her Death". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  4. ^ "The UFC finally issues a statement about UGNazi, the group that hacked UFC.com". MiddleEasy. January 24, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  5. ^ Kovacs, Eduard (April 24, 2012). "UGNazi Hackers Launch DDOS Attacks on CIA, DOJ Sites to Protest CISPA". Softpedia News. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  6. ^ Kovacs, Eduard (May 14, 2012). "UGNazi Hackers Leak Data from Washington Military Department". Softpedia News. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  7. ^ a b "UGNazi Leaks 1.7 GB of Data from WHMCS Servers". Softpedia News. May 22, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Greenberg, Andy (May 22, 2012). "Hackers Impersonate Web Billing Firm's Staff To Spill 500,000 Users' Passwords And Credit Cards". Forbes. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  9. ^ Leyden, John (May 22, 2012). "Titsup WHMCS calls the Feds after credit-card megaleak". The Register. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  10. ^ Kovacs, Edward (May 22, 2012). "UGNazi Leaks 1.7 GB of Data from WHMCS Servers". Softpedia News. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  11. ^ Kumar, Mohit (June 4, 2012). "UGNazi hackers attack on CloudFlare via a flaw in Google". The Hacker News. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  12. ^ Kovacs, Eduard (June 1, 2012). "UGNazi Attacks Wounded Warrior Project to Spite The Jester". Softpedia News. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  13. ^ Greenberg, Andy. "Hackers Impersonate Web Billing Firm's Staff To Spill 500,000 Users' Passwords And Credit Cards". Forbes. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  14. ^ Moran, Robert (June 8, 2012). "In hack, Wawa web turns Kawaii Hitler". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  15. ^ Pepitone, Julianne (June 21, 2012). "Twitter crashes hard, Internet freaks out". CNN. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012.
  16. ^ Biddle, Sam (November 30, 2012). "The Final Words of a 15-Year-Old Hacker Banned from the Internet". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on June 15, 2014.
  17. ^ Biddle, Sam (December 17, 2012). "Hackers Take Over Westboro Baptist Church Twitter (Updated)". Gizmodo. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  18. ^ Biddle, Sam (December 19, 2012). "UGNazi Hackers Seize Another Westboro Baptist Church Hate Account". Gizmodo. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  19. ^ Flood, Brian (January 12, 2021). "Parler CEO blasts AOC, elected officials who called to ban his app". Fox News. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  20. ^ Day, Andrea (April 27, 2018). "A former hacker reveals what he's learned about cybersecurity". CNBC. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  21. ^ Honan, Mat (September 11, 2012). "Cosmo, the Hacker 'God' Who Fell to Earth". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  22. ^ Bekiempis, Victoria (December 28, 2018). "The Dark Tale of a Bitcoin Trader, a Swatter, and a Dead Woman". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  23. ^ "2 Behind Bars In Murder Of American Woman In Philippines". CBS News. December 28, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2019 – via News 9.
  24. ^ Bernstein, Joseph; Alba, Davey (February 11, 2019). "The American Hackers Accused Of Murdering A Young Woman In The Philippines Pleaded Not Guilty". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
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