Tag Archives: criminal

Fifth Circuit Addresses Scope of “Use” Under Federal Identity Theft Statute

You may have forgotten that there is a federal criminal identity theft statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, which says:

Whoever, during and in relation to any felony violation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years.

Section 1028A is not frequently invoked,… More

Hacker Fails to Establish “Necessity” of DDOS Attack on Hospital

In a recent decision from the District of Massachusetts, the alleged perpetrator of cyber-attacks against Wayside Youth and Family Support Network and Boston Children’s Hospital (“BCH”) failed in his attempt to assert a novel defense:  necessity.  In what most would view as a positive development, the court found that the defendant and alleged hacker did not “offer[] competent evidence that it was objectively reasonable to anticipate a causal relationship between the alleged cyber attack and the purported harm to be averted.”… More