Federal government hacker twins’ criminal history overlooked by Opexus

CyberScoop reports that Opexus, a software provider contracted by the federal government, has acknowledged its failure to properly vet twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, who have been charged and arrested over hacking its systems earlier this year, or a decade after they had been imprisoned for conspiring to infiltrate the State Department as government contractors.

Opexus' sudden firing of the twins in February after being aware of their criminal history has led to an immediate retaliatory insider intrusion, which resulted in the exposure of data from the Department of Homeland Security, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, and other federal agencies.

"As with the onboarding, the terminations were not handled in an appropriate manner," according to an Opexus spokesperson. More robust screening protocols have since been adopted by Opexus, which has already extended its standard background checks to 10 years. "The security of our customers information is our No. 1 priority, and we remain committed to continuous improvement in our hiring, compliance and internal controls," the spokesperson added.