Comcast Hackers Sentenced to Prison

PHILADELPHIA—Christopher Allen Lewis, a.k.a. “EBK,” 20, of Newark, Delaware, and Michael Paul Nebel, a.k.a. “Slacker,” 28, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, were sentenced today to 18 months in prison for conspiring to disrupt service at Comcast corporation’s www.comcast.net website, on May 28 and 29, 2008, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Lewis pleaded guilty to the charge on February 24, 2010. Nebel pleaded guilty on June 21, 2010.

Lewis, Nebel, and co-defendant James Robert Black, Jr., a.k.a. “Defiant,” were associated with the hacker group Kryogeniks. On May 28, 2008, they used their hacking skills to redirect all traffic destined for the www.comcast.net website to websites that they had established. As a result, Comcast customers trying to read their e-mail or listen to their voice mail were sent to a website where they found a message that read “KRYOGENIKS Defiant and EBB RoXed COMCAST sHouTz to VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven.”

Approximately five million people per day connected to the Comcast website in May of 2008. These acts resulted in a loss to Comcast of approximately $89,578.13. The diversion prompted an intensive FBI investigation. Comcast Corporation cooperated in that investigation.

In addition to the prison time, U.S. District Court Judge Robert F. Kelly ordered the defendants to each pay restitution in the amount of $89,578.13. Black’s case was transferred to the Western District of Washington, where he was sentenced to four months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Albert S. Glenn and Alexander T.H. Nguyen.