Seeing as they're one of the most renowned and well-known intelligence agencies in the world, you would think that the
CIA would have a pretty advanced security system when it comes to gaining access to classified files relating to military operations, right? Well, it turns out, not really.
According to the various reports, a 15-year-old boy from the UK managed to gain access to top secret information by simply pretending to be the head of the CIA on the phone. Kane Gamble from the UK, managed to gain access to files regarding military operations in Afghanistan and Iran by acting as the head of the CIA in order to gain access to his computers.
The Telegraph reports that a court heard how Kane had used "social engineering" to gain access to personal and work account of some of America's top spy chiefs. Social engineering refers to setting up a situation whereby the victim divulges confidential and private information to someone who is not classified to know such things.
The teen had persuaded call handlers that he was John Brennan, who was director of the CIA at the time of the scam and through his voice acting, he was able to gain access to Brennan's computers. Gamble also rang an
FBI help-desk and convinced that he was Mark Guiliano, the Deputy Director of the agency, in order to be granted access to an intelligence database.
Not just done with cracking the FBI and CIA from his bedroom in Leicestershire, UK, the teenager also targeted the US Secretary of Homeland Security as well as
Barack Obama's Director of National Intelligence.
The court heard how Gamble would taunt his victims and release personal information into the world. It's also believed that he downloaded pornography on to their computers. The prosecuting QC said that Gamble was the founder and brain of a group called "Crackas With Attitude" back in 2015. Describing the inception of the group, Gamble said:
"It all started by
me getting more and more annoyed about how corrupt and cold-blooded the US are so I decided to do something about it."
The group never actually used hacking to gain access to confidential files, preferring to use social engineering when attacking their targets.
Gamble pleaded guilty to ten offences under the Computer Misuse Act and has admitted to gaining access to Mr Brennan's computer by getting call handlers to change security questions for him.
Mr Lloyd Jones, QC said:
"He accessed some extremely sensitive accounts referring to, among other things, military operations and intelligence operations in Afghanistan and Iran."
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Gamble admits that he did think about stopping his tirade "because it put lives at risk, but then I thought they are killing innocent people every day." Since his arrested, he has been evaluated by medical experts who argue that the teenager is on the autism spectrum and has the mental development of a 12 or 13-year-old. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Basically, this kid didn't need to do any hacking or use any crazy types of coding to get into the CIA, he just called them up and put on a voice. Fills you with confidence, doesn't it?
