In November 2012
Anil Kheda, a dutch National, got charged under federal constitution in the District of
New Hampshire with allegedly conspiring to hack into and disable computer servers belonging to
Rampid Interactive, a New Hampshire-based company that publishes and hosts a multi-player online role-playing game called “Outwar” (+75.000 active players).
From November 2007 to August 2008, Anil Kheda (the "Leader") and some additional members of the Plot, all of whom were avid “Outwar” players, accessed Rampid’s computer servers without authorization and rendered “Outwar” unplayable for days at a time.
They also used their unauthorized access to Rampid’s servers
to alter user accounts, causing the restoration of suspended player accounts and the accrual of unearned game points, and to obtain a copy of all or portions of the “Outwar” computer source code, which they used to help create a competitor online game, named “Outcraft.”
The indictment also stated that
Kheda and his alleged online buddies
sent Rampid interstate communications threatening to continue to hack into Rampid’s computer systems unless Rampid agreed to pay them money or provide them with other benefits. Kheda claimed to have found vulnerabilities in the Rampid's network and the Outwar
source code that allowed him to gain administrator access to the underlying functions of the game.
His ability to repeatedly delete a user database seems to indicate his claims were at least partially true. This lack although, caused Outwar to go down for a total of about two weeks over the nine-month stretch, causing Rampid to lose more than 100.000 USD in lost revenues, wages, hosting costs, long term loss of business, as well as the loss of exclusive use of their proprietary source code, which it had invested approximately 1.5 million USD in creating the Platform.
According to court documents, Kheda earned approximately 10.000 USD in profits from operating “Outcraft,” which has approximately 10.000 players worldwide.
"You guys have the following three options," Kheda wrote in a December 2007 e-mail included in the federal indictment.":
1. Let me play again on my master account (with everything that was on it), and I will report everything when I come across a vulnerability.
2. Pay me $1500 and you will never hear from me again.
3. Don't reply to this e-mail and you are gonna wish you picked one of the other options.
During another exchange with Rampid employees, Kheda allegedly demanded he be given the name and address of a fellow hacker called Pimpster, who is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment. Kheda ultimately demanded he be given contact details for the UK juvenile after he backed out of the alleged conspiracy to hack Rampid's network, according to prosecutors.
"Pimpster may have pussed out after [an employee at Rampid] called his mom, I'll never talk to that noob snitch again," Kheda wrote, according to the indictment. "However I am still around, you guys probably thought that pimpster has been doing this all by himself, think again noobs."
What finally Sentence Kheda received (or not) is so far unknown, as i checked the Web, but came up with nothing so far. Kepping an eye on it although.
