A $245 Million Theft Against Dassault
The last great hack that we'll discuss in this historical review is rather recent. We need only go back to January of this year to find a 58-year-old Greek hacker who was arrested by the local police for illegally entering the servers of Dassault Systèmes, and stealing software he later sold on the Internet.
An Intrusion with Heavy Consequences
By entering one of the Dassault servers, this hacker - who used the codename ASTRA - was able to obtain access to the whole company network. It was then easy to steal several documents, as well as professional modeling software. Ever careful, he worked to erase all traces of his activities before exiting the network.
Once he had the software in hand, he started selling it on the Internet with the aid of an accomplice, causing losses estimated by Dassault at more than $300 million. The hacker was arrested at his Athens home by the police, who seized 16 CDs and DVDs as well as his hard drive. His assistant, whose identity was not revealed, resided in the United Kingdom.