Security

Fed Blotter: Alleged Hacker Charged in Sex Video Blackmail Attempt

A Kentucky college student faces federal extortion charges for allegedly attempting to blackmail a female student with an stolen sex video of her and her boyfriend. Sungkook Kim, a 23-year-old South Korean national, allegedly found a University of the Cumberlands lab computer left logged in to an e-mail account; when he rummaged around, he discovered […]

Kim
A Kentucky college student faces federal extortion charges for allegedly attempting to blackmail a female student with an stolen sex video of her and her boyfriend.

Sungkook Kim, a 23-year-old South Korean national, allegedly found a University of the Cumberlands lab computer left logged in to an e-mail account; when he rummaged around, he discovered the sex video.

Using the name "David Jones," Kim then allegedly sent the female half of the couple an e-mail demanding that she feed his highly-particularized appetite for internet porn.

I have a copy of 4 webcam video clips of you and [your boyfriend] having sex... you know what i'm talking about...! have attached one of the video clips as well as prove that i do have them...if you don't want me to send them to all your friends and professors, send me a video clip of you stripping slowly and masturbating til orgasm (must be able to see your entire body including face...and clearly) and pics of yourself similar to those shown (in terms of position and clarity). If you do this, then i will not send to anyone else and noone else will see them, and you wil not hear from me again. However, if you tell anyone about this or report this, then I will send them to everyone you know.

The victim -- who'd let her boyfriend record them together when they were both 17 -- went to the police, and gave them permission to pose as her in negotiating with the would-be blackmailer. He wound up sending 21 e-mails repeating his demand. Investigators traced the e-mails through Yahoo to Kim, who then admitted to police that he'd sent them, according to court records. Kim told police that he never intended to make good on his threats.

In addition to extortion charges (.pdf), Kim was hit with eight counts of computer hacking Thursday. Kim allegedly installed keystroke logging software on several university computers, and the feds say he used passwords stolen with the keyloggers to hack into at least eight other victims' e-mail accounts.

At a preliminary hearing earlier this month, FBI agent Donnie Kidd testified that Kim wasn't trying to steal financial information with the spyware. "He was attempting to obtain additional pornography, basically," Kidd said, according to the Times Tribune.

Most seriously, Kim is charged with possession of child pornography -- not for the stolen video, but for some nasty kid porn police found on his hard drive. Kim told police he never downloaded child pornography, and Kim's attorney argued in court that he may have inadvertently grabbed the illegal content while searching for ordinary smut.

*Fed Blotter is Threat Level's weekly roundup of computer crime cases in the federal courts. If you've been indicted, or are about to be, please let us know. *

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