Adam Botbyl is an American computer
hacker from
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. He gained unauthorized access to the Lowes corporate computer network via an open, unsecured wireless access point used by the
Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...
chain of home improvement and hardware stores. The access point was initially discovered inadvertently by his then-roommate, Paul Timmins. Months later, Botbyl and Salcedo returned to explore and exploit the network at a store located in
Southfield, Michigan
Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618.
As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its ...
. They then attempted to install a program that could have allowed them to capture the credit card information of customers conducting transactions through the Southfield store.
The government claimed that the crime could have caused more than $2.5 million in damages. The three men were initially charged with 16 counts of wire fraud and unauthorized intrusion. Botbyl pleaded guilty to one count of
Conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
, and the remaining counts were dismissed on the government's motion, per a plea bargain. Ultimately, Botbyl was sentenced to 26 months imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release.
On September 1, 2006, Botbyl was released from
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
custody. His supervised release ended seven months early, on January 28, 2008.
See also
*
List of convicted computer criminals
Convicted computer criminals are people who are caught and convicted of computer crimes such as breaking into computers or computer networks. Computer crime can be broadly defined as criminal activity involving information technology infrastruc ...
References
# "Second hacker who entered Lowe's computers gets 26 months." December 16, 2004. ''
Detroit Free Press
The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
''.
#
# "Wardriving guilty plea in Lowe's wi-fi case", SecurityFocus, August 5, 2004
Article# "Judgement in a Criminal Case, 5:03CR53-02, Western District of North Carolina" December 16, 2004
Judgment in a Criminal Case
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botbyl
Botbyl, Adam
Place of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth missing (living people)
American people convicted of fraud