Feds: Dutch man hacked Portsmouth company's online game
PORTSMOUTH — A federal grand jury has indicted a Dutch national for allegedly conspiring to hack into and disable the computer servers of a Portsmouth-based company.
Anil Kheda, 24, of the Netherlands, is facing charges of conspiring to commit computer intrusion and making extortionate interstate threats in 2007 and 2008. Authorities allege he and a number of co-conspirators accessed the computer servers of Rampid Interactive LLC, rendering an online game called “Outwar” unplayable for days at a time.
According to the indictment, Kheda and others used the unauthorized access to Rampid’s servers to restore the accounts of suspended players, accrue unearned points in the “Outwar” game and obtain copies of all or portions of the game’s computer source code, which they used to create a competitor online game, “Outcraft.” The indictment also alleges Kheda sent Rampid interstate communications blackmailing the company and demanding money or other benefits.
“Rampid was unable to operate ‘Outwar’ for a total of almost two weeks over a nine-month period and incurred over $100,000 in lost revenues, lost wages, lost 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 in creating,” the indictment states.
“Outwar” is a “massive, multiplayer online role-playing game” with more than 75,000 players worldwide. Kheda’s “Outcraft” rip-off attracted roughly 10,000 players and earned him $10,000 in profits from operating the game, according to the indictment.
The indictment contains excerpts from conversations and e-mails between Kheda, known by the online monikers of “Master,” “Master Anil,” “Riotist” and “SnoopDoggOW,” and employees of Rampid. They indicate that Kheda conspired with someone known online as “Pimpster” and “xPimpster1337,” whom the indictment identified as a juvenile living in the United Kingdom and who was not indicted as part of the investigation.
In one of the e-mails, Kheda called “Pimpster” a “noob snitch,” and threatened to again access Rampid’s servers. He demanded that Rampid restore his banned account or pay him $1,500.
“Don’t reply to this e-mail and you are gonna wish you picked one of the other options,” he wrote, according to the indictment.
His alleged threats led to an investigation by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by trial attorney Mona Sedky of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistand U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen of the District of New Hampshire.
If convicted, Kheda faces a maximum of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and two years in prison on the interstate threat charge.