Local Hackers and Russians Manipulate JFK Taxi Disptach System
Two New York men, Daniel Abayev and Peter Leyman, allegedly worked with Russian hackers, Aleksandr Derebenetc and Kirill Shipulin, to break into JFK’s taxi dispatch system.
The hackers explored and attempted various mechanisms to access the Dispatch System, including bribing someone to insert a flash drive containing malware into computers connected to the Dispatch system, obtaining unauthorized access to the system via a Wi-Fi connection, and stealing computer tablets connected to the Dispatch System.
They used their unauthorized access to alter the Dispatch System and move specific taxis to the front of the line, thereby allowing drivers of those taxis to skip other taxi drivers waiting in the line. Abayev and Leyman charged taxi drivers $10 each time they were advanced to the front of the line and transferred part of their profits to Shipulin and Derebenetc.
Abayev and Leyman’s scheme resulted in large numbers of taxi drivers skipping the taxi line. Over the course of the scheme, they enabled as many as 1,000 fraudulently expedited taxi trips a day.
Derebenetc, 30, of Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, and Shipulin, 30, of Moscow, Russia, are each charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Abayev, 47, and Leyman, 49, both of Queens, New York, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Read more about this story on our LinkedIn page
The hackers explored and attempted various mechanisms to access the Dispatch System, including bribing someone to insert a flash drive containing malware into computers connected to the Dispatch system, obtaining unauthorized access to the system via a Wi-Fi connection, and stealing computer tablets connected to the Dispatch System.
They used their unauthorized access to alter the Dispatch System and move specific taxis to the front of the line, thereby allowing drivers of those taxis to skip other taxi drivers waiting in the line. Abayev and Leyman charged taxi drivers $10 each time they were advanced to the front of the line and transferred part of their profits to Shipulin and Derebenetc.
Abayev and Leyman’s scheme resulted in large numbers of taxi drivers skipping the taxi line. Over the course of the scheme, they enabled as many as 1,000 fraudulently expedited taxi trips a day.
Derebenetc, 30, of Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, and Shipulin, 30, of Moscow, Russia, are each charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Abayev, 47, and Leyman, 49, both of Queens, New York, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Read more about this story on our LinkedIn page