Romanian hackers arrested for hitting government websites

Twelve individuals have been arrested across Romania for having allegedly compromised and defaced 29 websites of Romanian public institutions, and having stolen and leaked information exfiltrated from its databases.

According to a statement (via Google Translate) released by the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the hacking group consists of 14 people in all, with three hackers at its core:

  • 24-year-old Gabriel Baleasa, the founder of the group, who went by a myriad of handles (“lulzcart”, “anonsboat”, “anonsweb” and “Cartman”),
  • one Gabor Fabian
  • one Mihai Emil Picos.

The others joined the group at a later date.

The group stands accused of accessing computer systems illegally, misusing and publishing confidential data, and compromising and defacing the targeted websites. To gain access to the sites and web servers, they allegedly used SQL injection tools such as Havij and SQL Map.

The directorate doesn’t state whether the arrested individuals had anything to do with Anonymous, but judging by the aforementioned online handles, they almost certainly do.

It also notes that their criminal activity resulted in significant costs for the recovery of data and the implementation of new security measures.

DIICOT agents were helped in the investigation by the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), and the arrests were executed with the aid of the Romanian Gendarmerie.

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