Hungarian Citizen Pleads Guilty to Hacking into Marriott Computers

WASHINGTON A Hungarian citizen has pled guilty to intentionally causing damage by transmitting a malicious code to Marriott International Corporation computers and to threatening to reveal confidential information obtained from the companys computers if Marriott did not offer him a job. Attila Nemeth, 26, pleaded guilty in the District of Maryland before U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz. According to Nemeths plea agreement, on Nov. 11, 2010, Nemeth sent an initial email to Marriott personnel, advising that he had been accessing Marriotts computers for months and had obtained proprietary information. Nemeth threatened to reveal this information if Marriott did not give him a job maintaining the companys computers. On Nov. 13, 2010, after receiving no response from Marriott, Nemeth sent another email containing eight attachments, seven of which were confirmed as documents stored on Marriotts computer system. These documents included financial documentation and other confidential and proprietary information. Nemeth admitted that through an infected email attachment sent to specific Marriott employees he was able to install malicious software on Marriotts system that gave him a backdoor into the system. Using the backdoor, Nemeth was able to access proprietary email and other files belonging to Marriott. According to the plea agreement, on Nov. 18, 2010, Marriott created the identity of a fictitious Marriott employee for the use by the U.S. Secret Service in an undercover operation to communicate with Nemeth. Nemeth, believing he was communicating with Marriott human resources personnel, continued to call and email the undercover agent, and demanded a job with Marriott in order to prevent the public release of the Marriott documents. Nemeth emailed a copy of his Hungarian passport as identification and offered to travel to the United States. On Jan. 17, 2011, Nemeth arrived at Washington Dulles Airport on a ticket purchased by Marriott, for an employment interview. The interview was conducted by a Secret Service agent assuming the role of the Marriott employee with whom Nemeth believed he had been communicating. During the course of the interview, Nemeth admitted that he accessed Marriotts computer systems; stole Marriotts confidential and proprietary information; and initiated the emails to Marriott threatening to publicly release Marriotts data unless he was given a job on his terms by Marriott. To further prove his identity as the perpetrator, Nemeth demonstrated exactly how he accessed the Marriott network; his continued ability to access the Marriott network; and the location of the stolen Marriott proprietary data on a computer server located in Hungary. As a result of the compromise of its computer network, Marriott was compelled to engage more than 100 of its employees in a thorough search of its network to determine the scope of the compromise and to identify the data that may have been compromised. The loss to Marriott as a result of the intentional damage caused by Nemeth is between $400,000 and $1 million dollars in salaries, consultant expenses and other costs associated with Nemeths intrusion. Nemeth faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the transmission of the malicious code and a maximum of five years in prison for threatening to expose confidential and proprietary information if Marriott did not give him a job. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2012, at 11 a.m. Nemeth remains detained.