Cosmo the God―6-foot-7, 220-pound California hacker extraordinaire―is the mastermind who, with his group UG Nazi (short for Underground Nazi Hacktivist Group), pioneered computer techniques that allowed them to take down NASDAQ and CIA.gov, hack their way into user accounts at Amazon, BestBuy, Apple, AOL and PayPal, and wreak general havoc throughout the internet.
He is also a 15-year-old high school dropout from a broken home in Long Beach―real name, Derek―who is banned from using the internet for the next six years.
Cosmo was brilliant at exploiting gaping account security holes that revealed online security to be an illusion and he shared his acquired knowledge with fellow hackers.
But a coordinated effort led by the FBI brought him down in a sweep that resulted in 24 arrests in 13 countries and his incarceration on June 26.
Mat Honan, a reporter for Wired, profiled Cosmo earlier in the year, after his arrest. But Honan’s contact with UG Nazi goes back to when the group broke into his Apple and Amazon accounts, wiped his computer, phone and tablet, deleted his Google account and hijacked his Twitter account.
Cosmo came to hacking through online gaming on Xbox, where he learned that by using off-the-shelf software he could smack around competing gamers and hack account identify information from Netflix. He was off and running. Shortly thereafter he joined forces with an online friend to form UG Nazi. Although their efforts centered around opposition to proposed anti-piracy legislation, they were not above taking down Papa John’s Pizza when their delivery order was late.
Cosmo’s resume with UG Nazi includes beating the snot out of British web billing firm WHMCS. The group dumped 500,000 of its user passwords and credit card numbers on the internet, took over the company’s website and hijacked its Twitter feed, tweeting, “We laugh at your security.”
Cosmo eventually pleaded guilty to multiple felonies—including credit card fraud, online impersonation, bomb threats and identity theft—in exchange for probation until he is 21. Until then, he can’t use the internet without prior consent from his parole officer and he had to give up his logins and passwords. He is prohibited from contacting any members of UG Nazi or Anonymous and had to give up the computers seized in a raid on his home.
He says he is sorry and won’t do it again.
–Ken Broder
To Learn More:
Teenage Hacker “Cosmo the God” Sentenced by California Court (by Mat Honan, Wired)
Cosmo, the Hacker “God” Who Fell to Earth (by Mat Honan, Wired)