Former Michigan offensive coordinator Matt Weiss has been charged with accessing e-mail, social media and cloud storage accounts belonging to 1000’s of scholars across the nation and downloading intimate pictures saved on these accounts.
Julie A. Beck, performing U.S. Legal professional for the Jap District of Michigan, introduced a 24-count indictment in opposition to Weiss on Thursday. The indictment alleges that between 2015 and 2023, Weiss gained entry to a third-party database utilized by greater than 100 schools and universities and obtained college students’ private info, which he used to hack e-mail, social media and cloud storage accounts belonging to greater than 2,000 athletes, in addition to 1,300 further college students and college alumni.
Weiss faces 14 counts of unauthorized entry to computer systems and 10 counts of aggravated identification theft. The utmost sentence consists of 5 years in jail for every cost of unauthorized entry and two years for every depend of identification theft.
“As we speak’s indictment of Matthew Weiss underscores the dedication and meticulous investigative efforts of our regulation enforcement professionals,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, particular agent in command of the FBI in Michigan, mentioned in an announcement. “The FBI Detroit Cyber Process Pressure, in shut collaboration with the College of Michigan Police Division, labored relentlessly on this case to safeguard and defend our neighborhood.”
Weiss was fired as Michigan’s offensive coordinator in January 2023 following a report of suspicious pc exercise at Schembechler Corridor, Michigan’s soccer facility. The allegations span Weiss’ time as an assistant coach for the Baltimore Ravens in addition to his two seasons at Michigan. Weiss was a graduate assistant below Jim Harbaugh at Stanford and labored for the Ravens from 2009 to 2020 earlier than rejoining Harbaugh at Michigan. Weiss coached quarterbacks in 2021 and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator earlier than the 2022 season.
The indictment alleges that between January 2020 and October 2021, Weiss gained entry to a third-party database maintained by Keffer Improvement Companies by compromising the accounts of athletic administrators and trainers. Prosecutors allege that Weiss downloaded private info and medical information belonging to greater than 150,000 athletes, together with encrypted passwords, then used that info to entry private e-mail and social media accounts.
Weiss used info leaked in information breaches and different open-source analysis to compromise the passwords, prosecutors say. The indictment alleges that Weiss “saved notes on people whose images and movies he considered, together with notes commenting on their our bodies and sexual preferences.”
The indictment additionally alleges that Weiss illegally accessed servers belonging to the College of Michigan and its e-mail suppliers. Weiss reset the passwords of greater than 40 e-mail accounts belonging to College of Michigan alumni, federal prosecutors say, then accessed greater than 25 of them. Weiss can also be charged with accessing accounts of greater than 5 college students at Westmont Faculty in California between October 2022 and January 2023.
An lawyer representing Weiss didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
(Photograph: Mark J. Rebilas / USA As we speak)
