Swedish Hacker, Dan Egerstad, Arrested for Exposing Security Hole

INSPECTOR Knacker of the Swedish Yard has swooped on the home of a hacker who found holes in encryption systems used by world-wide embassies. Dan Egerstad, a security consultant, intercepted data carried over the Tor network and obtained access to 1000 sensitive email accounts. He warned various government bodies about the hole in the system but could not get anyone interested until he published details on his webpage. Egerstad also told members of the press. According to AP, it seems that the authorities were not amused and rather than giving him a medal for showing how hackers from other countries could be reading their mails, they sent the plod around with a warrant.

The data, which has been posted online by freelance security consultant Dan Egerstad, reveals usernames, passwords and server addresses that security consultant Dan Egerstad has managed to snag from over 100 e-mail accounts belonging to embassy employees around the world. The misguided security expert used Tor to collect government e-mail passwords and use them to access sensitive information. Computer Sweden has verified the posted information.

It is still unclear as to how the passwords were accessed by the hacker as he has posted his name on the web as Dan Egerstad from Malmo in Sweden. Hacks hit embassy, government e-mail accounts worldwide.