{"id":4287,"date":"2022-01-15T19:27:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/?p=4287"},"modified":"2022-01-15T19:27:38","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:57:38","slug":"how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/","title":{"rendered":"How Former DHS Official charged with hijacking govt Employees\u2019 PII?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A former Department of Homeland Security acting inspector general pleaded guilty today to stealing confidential and proprietary software and sensitive databases from the US government containing employees&#8217; personal identifying information (PII).<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A 61-year-old Charles Kumar Edwards coordinated the scheme while working for DHS-OIG (Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General) as an employee and acting IG between February 2008 and December 2013. Before working at DHS-OIG, Edwards also worked at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Postal Service &#8211; Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG), according to the indictment.<strong>&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While working at these government agencies, the defendant had access to multiple software systems and sensitive government databases that held sensitive personally-identifying information of DHS and USPS employees. In September 2015, &#8220;after leaving DHS-OIG, Edwards founded Delta Business Solutions Inc., located in Maryland,&#8221; a Department of Justice press release published today says.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;From at least 2015 until 2017, he stole software from DHS-OIG, along with sensitive government databases containing personal identifying information of DHS and USPS employees, so that his company could develop a commercially-owned version of a case management system to be offered for sale to government agencies.&#8221;<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>PII of hundreds of thousands of DHS employees stolen<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two other defendants, former DHS-OIG IT Specialist Murali Yamazula Venkata and Enterprise Applications Branch Chief in DHS-OIG&#8217;s IT division Sonal Patel, allegedly stole copies of database files containing the PII of roughly 246,167 DHS employees and around 6,723 USPS employees.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PII was copied from DHS-OIG&#8217;s EDS system, DHS-OIG&#8217;s EDS source code, including a subpoena module, DHS-OIG&#8217;s database, and USPS-OIG&#8217;s STARS database and PARIS system. The conspirators also purportedly misappropriated a key management services code and multiple activation keys associated with various Microsoft software products.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The stolen PII and Microsoft keys and code were then delivered to Edwards after leaving his employment with the DHS-OIG. Edwards was also given copies of DHS-OIG and USPS-OIG documents and data that would help him develop a private, commercially-owned version of a case management system to be offered for sale to government agencies.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-image1-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-image1\" class=\"wp-image-4290\" width=\"472\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-image1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-image1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-image1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-image1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-image1.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 472px) 100vw, 472px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Defendant EDWARDS used, possessed, and transferred stolen DHS-OIG and USPS-OIG documents and information, including PII of DHS and USPS employees, to software developers in India who were assisting Defendant EDWARDS with the creation and development of a private, commercially owned version of a case management system to be offered for sale to government agencies for the benefit, enrichment, and profit of Defendant EDWARDS and his business DB,&#8221; according to court documents.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Defendants EDWARDS and VENKATA and Patel suppressed their theft and the requirement of software, source code, databases, documents, information, and PII to Defendant EDWARDS by placing roadside sessions to pass media and tools to Defendant EDWARDS, by emailing documents to their personal email accounts before forwarding them on to Defendant EDWARDS, and by concealing from DHS-OIG employees the purpose of their request for software.&#8221;<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>When  was Edwas has Addressed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Edwards has asserted culpable in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to scheme to reserve theft of government belongings and theft of government property. He will be sentenced at a later date.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A nationwide community court judge will decide a penalty for Edwards after regarding US sentencing guidelines and other statutory aspects. 56-year-old Venkata, his co-conspirator, has begged not guilty to the charges and his claim is yet pending.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Department of Homeland Security acting inspector general pleaded guilty today to stealing confidential and proprietary software and sensitive databases from the US government containing employees&#8217; personal identifying information (PII). A 61-year-old Charles Kumar Edwards coordinated the scheme while working for DHS-OIG (Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General) as an employee and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Former DHS Official charged with hijacking govt Employees\u2019 PII? - Xiarch Solutions Private Limited<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Former DHS Official charged with hijacking govt Employees\u2019 PII? - Xiarch Solutions Private Limited\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former Department of Homeland Security acting inspector general pleaded guilty today to stealing confidential and proprietary software and sensitive databases from the US government containing employees&#8217; personal identifying information (PII). A 61-year-old Charles Kumar Edwards coordinated the scheme while working for DHS-OIG (Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General) as an employee and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Xiarch Solutions Private Limited\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/xiarch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-15T13:57:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-15T13:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/How-Former-DHS-Official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-Employees-PiII-feature-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Xiarch Security\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@xiarch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@xiarch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Xiarch Security\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Xiarch Security\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/655d814a04eacce56942270cfdc5c59c\"},\"headline\":\"How Former DHS Official charged with hijacking govt Employees\u2019 PII?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-15T13:57:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-15T13:57:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/\"},\"wordCount\":557,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Vulnerabilities\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/xiarch.com\/blog\/how-former-dhs-official-charged-with-hijacking-govt-employees-pii\/\",\"name\":\"How Former DHS Official charged with hijacking govt Employees\u2019 PII? 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