New York auxiliary cop found guilty for hacking into NYDP database
A New York City department auxiliary cop has been accused for hacking into an NYPD database for confidential information about traffic accidents, and other law enforcement databases, including a system maintained by the FBI.
Yehuda Katz, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, devised an intricate scheme, where he was using law enforcement databases from a remote location and he had also installed a hidden camera in a cable TV box in the traffic safety office to make sure he wouldn’t be caught.
The camera was discovered by cops in the clerical office where car accident reports and copies of vehicle indictment had been stored, according to a complaint unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
An electronic device was detected connected to the computer that had been logging into the NYPD database using the passwords of three cops on their days off.
According to Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, Katz accessed personal information of thousands of citizens “to enrich himself through fraud.”
The surveillance camera was capable of broadcasting a live image of the office to the Internet. Investigators are suspicious that Katz would activate the device from a remote location to make sure no one was using the computer so he could log into the database.
“The charges in the complaint are merely allegations,” FBI’s reported on its own website, and “the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.”
The FBI and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau incorporated with each other to investigate the case. Investigators stated that Katz remotely logged onto an NYPD computer using usernames and passwords belonging to NYPD uniformed officers.
Katz was then asked to run thousands of inquiries in databases to pinpoint accident victims before approaching individuals involved in traffic accidents, in one case posing as an intercessor with the fictitious "Katz and Katz law firm".
According to an FBI statement, the defendant ran over 6,400 queries in sensitive law enforcement databases, between May and August2014.
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| Source: New York Daily News |
Yehuda Katz, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, devised an intricate scheme, where he was using law enforcement databases from a remote location and he had also installed a hidden camera in a cable TV box in the traffic safety office to make sure he wouldn’t be caught.
The camera was discovered by cops in the clerical office where car accident reports and copies of vehicle indictment had been stored, according to a complaint unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
An electronic device was detected connected to the computer that had been logging into the NYPD database using the passwords of three cops on their days off.
According to Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, Katz accessed personal information of thousands of citizens “to enrich himself through fraud.”
The surveillance camera was capable of broadcasting a live image of the office to the Internet. Investigators are suspicious that Katz would activate the device from a remote location to make sure no one was using the computer so he could log into the database.
“The charges in the complaint are merely allegations,” FBI’s reported on its own website, and “the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.”
The FBI and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau incorporated with each other to investigate the case. Investigators stated that Katz remotely logged onto an NYPD computer using usernames and passwords belonging to NYPD uniformed officers.
Katz was then asked to run thousands of inquiries in databases to pinpoint accident victims before approaching individuals involved in traffic accidents, in one case posing as an intercessor with the fictitious "Katz and Katz law firm".
According to an FBI statement, the defendant ran over 6,400 queries in sensitive law enforcement databases, between May and August2014.
