Hacker breaks into Hawaii’s Death Registration System

Jesse Kipf, a 39-year-old man from Kentucky, United States, was recently sentenced to 81 months in prison after being found guilty of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Kipf admitted to illegally accessing the Hawaii Death Registration System in January of last year and faking his own death in a desperate attempt to avoid paying more than $100,000 in child support.

Read also:

Hacker group may have leaked over 1TB of Disney data
Hackers obtained confidential information from AMD; the company is already investigating the case

The hacker’s elaborate scheme

Kipf’s case has drawn attention to the unusual and complex ways he used to get what he wanted. The hacker managed to access Hawaii’s death registry system, creating a “case” for his own death. He then filled out a State of Hawaii Death Certificate Form, where he assumed the identity of the attending physician and certified his own death using a real doctor’s digital signature.

By doing so, Kipf was able to be registered as a deceased person in several government databases, which provided him with a false official “death.”

Kipf’s motivation for this fraud was to avoid his child support obligations, which already exceeded $100,000. However, his criminal activity did not stop there. The hacker was also responsible for accessing other death registration systems and carrying out attacks on several companies, using credentials stolen from real doctors and employees.

The international cybercrime network

Kipf didn’t just execute these attacks for his own benefit, but also offered access to the compromised systems and sold stolen databases containing private information, such as Social Security numbers, to other cybercriminals on the darknet. Social Security numbers in the US are the equivalent of social security numbers in Brazil.

The darknet is a part of the internet accessible only through specialized software that can hide users’ identities, and is often used for illegal activities, including selling stolen data and accessing compromised IT systems.

According to information presented in court, Kipf sold this information to international buyers, including individuals from Algeria, Russia and Ukraine.

Legal and financial consequences

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, condemned the hacker’s actions, describing the scheme as a “cynical and destructive effort” and noting that it was partly motivated by the “unacceptable goal of avoiding child support obligations.”

Under federal law, Kipf is required to serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Additionally, upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years.

The damage caused to government and corporate systems, combined with the failure to pay their child support obligations, resulted in a total loss of $195,758.65.

Source: BBC