Richard Liriano pleads guilty to compromising hospital computers and co-workers' email accounts, as well as stealing personal files and photos.

Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading

December 23, 2019

1 Min Read

The former IT employee of a New York City-area hospital has pled guilty to stealing colleagues' credentials and logging into various accounts to steal private and confidential files, the Department of Justice reports. He used this access to view photos, videos, and other data.

Between 2013 and 2018, the allegations state, Richard Liriano abused his administrative access to log into employee accounts and copy his colleagues' personal documents, including tax records and personal photographs, onto his own machine. To do this, he installed malicious programs, including a keylogger, onto victims' machines so he could capture their credentials.

Over the course of this time frame, Liriano stole the usernames and passwords of about 70 or more email accounts belonging to hospital employees or people associated with them. He then obtained unauthorized access to password-protected email, social media, photography, and other online accounts where the victims were registered.

"Liriano's disturbing crimes not only invaded the privacy of his coworkers; he also intruded into computers housing vital healthcare and patient information, costing his former employer hundreds of thousands of dollars to remediate," US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. Liriano's intrusions into the hospital networks caused more than $350,000 in losses.

Read more details here.

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Dark Reading Staff

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