FBI raids Miley Cyrus' hacker

[ALIASd]

Miley Cyrus Hacker Raided by FBI

By Kim Zetter
October 20, 2008 | 11:59:02 PM
Categories: Hacks and Cracks
WIRED.com

A 19-year-old hacker who published provocative photos of teen queen Miley Cyrus earlier this year was raided by the FBI Monday morning in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The hacker, Josh Holly, repeatedly bragged online about breaking into the Disney star's e-mail account and stealing her photos. He also gave interviews to bloggers and others and boasted that authorities would never find him because he moved so often. [Last month, Holly contacted Threat Level seeking to have an article written about him here.]

But this morning the FBI did find him and, after talking with him for more than an hour about his exploits, served him with a search warrant and a list of items to be seized (which was posted at the hacking site digitalgangster.com after Holly showed it to a friend).

When agents finally left his apartment after conducting an extensive search, they had three computers and Holly's phone, among other things. Hours after the raid, Holly phoned Threat Level from his sister's phone to report what had occurred. He hasn't been arrested or charged with a crime yet.

Last December, Holly, who went by the screen names "TrainReq," "Rockz" and "h4x," obtained access to a Gmail account Cyrus had once used (messagemebaby@gmail.com) and found images the Hannah Montana actress had purportedly sent to singer Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers.

Holly told Threat Level he tried to sell the pictures to TMZ.com and other celebrity outlets, but no one would buy them, given the illegal manner by which he'd obtained them. He then posted some of them online at digitalgangster.com, after which numerous gossip and celebrity websites published them for free. More photos followed thereafter.

He also told Threat Level that he'd made about $50,000 exploiting an advertising scheme on MySpace accounts, but he didn't want the details published to avoid giving other hackers ideas. Threat Level was unable to confirm the authenticity of his claim.

MySpace wouldn't comment on the case or on Holly's assertion that the site stores its customer account passwords in cleartext, rather than encrypted format. A spokeswoman said the company doesn't discuss its security policies because it doesn't want to place customer data at risk.

Hours before the FBI arrived at his doorstep, Holly posted a message online bragging that even though he was a known hacker, federal agents would never find him.

Miley Cyrus Hacker Raided by FBI | Threat Level from Wired.com

[PretzelSouls]

Well....that's what he gets....

[Coast21]

That's awesome.

[MonstersGoBoo!]

Hours before the FBI arrived at his doorstep, Holly posted a message online bragging that even though he was a known hacker, federal agents would never find him.

LOL. Now look what happened!
What an idiot.

[duckiedianne]

perfect example of hubris right there....he was so proud of himself that he got himself caught!

At the same time, I'm glad he got caught!