At least two of the hackers that were recently snagged in a two-year sting operation by the FBI were involved in the hacking of UFC.com and company president Dana White’s personal information.
Mir Islam, aka “JoshTheGod,” and a 15-year-old hacker from California that goes by the moniker “CosmoTheGod,” were reportedly two of the key minds behind UGNazi, the group that took credit for the UFC-related hacking.
The UFC was relatively small potatoes compared to the other activities of the overall ring of hackers, which included at least 24 arrests, according to JDJournal.com. The sting focused primarily on credit card fraud related hacking and spanned four continents.
Islam was charged with the trafficking of at least 50,000 stolen credit card numbers. “CosmoTheGod” is a minor, so there is much less information available on his arrest, although Wired magazine did a profile on him and his involvement in much of the hacking.
White was confident that the hackers would eventually be caught. He and the UFC had been involved with officials on the case because of matters related to piracy of UFC properties.
“Because there's so much piracy of UFC merchandise, the FBI was already monitoring everything that was happening,” White told Inc. magazine about his personal involvement with the hackers in a “Twitter war.” “But after Anonymous hacked our site, we also got U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, involved.”
The hacker sting was a lengthy operation with arrests made in several countries. Authorities claimed it as a major victory against hacking activities, and White was quick to join them.
“They acted like tough guys when hiding behind a computer,” White told MMAWeekly.com. “We will see how tough they really are now!!”
