Two Springfield brothers — twins — were sentenced to 24 months and 39 months in prison on Oct. 2 for attempting to hack into secure State Department networks earlier this year.
Sohaib and Muneeb Akhter, 23, were indicted in April on charges related to multiple computer fraud schemes, including leveraging Sohaib's employment as a contractor with the State Department to gain access to restricted networks.
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After successfully exfiltrating information from State networks, the brothers devised a plan to install a device on the department's servers that would allow them to access restricted information remotely at any time.
Unfortunately for the brothers, the device broke while Sohaib was attempting to install it, according to the indictment.
Along with their prior commercial schemes, the brothers also used their positions with federal contractors to defraud the government in other ways.
Previously, in November 2013, Muneeb used his position at a data aggregation company in Rockville, Maryland, to gain access to a company database of federal contracting information, which the brothers used to steer government contracts to their side business.
According to the indictment, Muneeb lied about these activities when applying for a sensitive position with a defense contractor in 2014, falsifying information on his government background investigation.
Both brothers pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to access a protected computer without authorization, conspiracy to access a government computer without authorization and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Muneeb also pleaded to an additional count of accessing a protected computer without authorization, as well as making a false statement and obstructing justice.
Sohaib was sentenced to 24 months in prison; Muneeb was sentenced to 39 months. Both will also be under three years of supervised release after their prison terms are served.
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
