back to article Failbreak: Bloke gets seven years in the clink for trying to hack his friend out of jail

A Michigan fella will spend up to seven years and three months behind bars – for trying to hack government IT systems in the US state to get a friend out of jail. Konrads Voits, 27, of Ypsilanti, Michigan, received the 87-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to one federal charge of damaging a protected computer. He will …

  1. Mike Moyle

    "So who's the new phish...?"

    1. Adam 1

      Here phishy phishy phishy.

      /Mine's the bright orange one, thanks

  2. GBE

    7 years for trying to get somebody out a few months early

    Somebody forgot to do a risk/reward analysis.

    As a general rule, people in county jails are serving sentences less than 12 months. The friend in county is going to be out a _long_ time before his hacker buddy gets out of federal prison.

    1. 404

      Re: 7 years for trying to get somebody out a few months early

      /depends... Every_single_county around here did some upgrades and now take state long-term felons in for the extra cash. State pays more for incarceration, soooo $profit$

  3. DNTP

    I shouldn't be thanking this guy

    But I will anyway, and here's why: What he did, how it was done, and why he did it are all easily understandable by the working public and can easily be explained to an audience. The how and why of large-scale national news hacks against targets like Equifax or Sony are hard to break down in simple terms for a nontechnical audience, and lets face it- they are boring because finance and corporate espionage are boring.

    Opening an educational presentation on IT security with "This is a story about a guy who tried to hack the police to get his friend out of jail, and how he nearly succeeded" gets people's attention. Then they are ready to be taken through how each step was done, how each simple vulnerability was targeted, and how they can recognize these things in the future. Voits deserves to go to prison for sure, but by making the news he gives those of us trying to instill basic computer security measures a great case study.

    1. BebopWeBop
      Trollface

      Re: I shouldn't be thanking this guy

      A lesson to all (hide your track more competently)

      1. DNTP

        Re: I shouldn't be thanking this guy

        Well yes that's the other lesson but I'm not going to be going over that with my users.

    2. Chozo
      Coat

      Re: I shouldn't be thanking this guy

      Part of me wants to congratulate the blue team however the ugly truth of it is they got lucky. Had Voits been operating from van parked across the street instead of openly in the coffee shop and the subsequent rooftop farce he could very well of pulled it off.

      I'm off to write a script that makes a command shell look like a chat room

  4. Herby

    He forgot the most important thing...

    He should have printed up a "Get out of Jail Free" card and mailed it to the guy inside. People have been let out for less.

    Sadly these don't work for stays in the "Big House", they look at ALL the paperwork.

    1. Chozo

      Re: they look at ALL the paperwork

      Having no knowledge about the inner workings of prison admin, intriguing questions abound...

      Does a clerk at the prison physically check the original court documents signed in ink by the judge OR do they just log into a web portal and get given lists of prisoners arriving & departing?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The press releases/statements..

    ..always take the same format.

    1) Inflate what happened. Number of users, cash spent to fix, "MASSIVE BREACH!!"...

    2) About turn! "WE WERE ON THE BALL!!", something about staff diligence etc etc.

    7 years seems a bit much mind.

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: The press releases/statements..

      7 years seems a bit much mind.

      US prison sentences are hugely inflated, thanks to lobbying and kickbacks by the prison-industrial complex and politicians trying to appeal to the mob. Here it's really best not to get convicted. I recommend being wealthy and white, and associating with the Right Sort of People.

  6. Chairman of the Bored

    He followed rule 1 of social engineering

    Whatcha doin' on the roof?

    "Trying to get better reception."

    Oh, okay...

    Epic! Tell the truth if possible but reveal as little as necessary.

    1. FozzyBear
      Happy

      Re: He followed rule 1 of social engineering

      Depending on how switched on the cops were, responding with

      " Trying to hack into the County Jail Systems to get my buddy outta gaol early"

      may have received the same response.

  7. Guevera

    No good deed goes unpunished

  8. Christoph

    If a random hacker can game the system then so can the authorities, or a bent policeman, to decrease or increase sentences.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Steve Evans

    Believing Voits' story that he was only "trying to get better reception," officers let him go.

    Well why shouldn't they believe that story, it was the truth... He just didn't mention it was the building across the street he was trying to get better reception from!

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