WICHITA, KAN. - A Wisconsin man has pleaded guilty to taking part in a cyber-attack on Koch Industries in Wichita sponsored by a group known as Anonymous, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.
Eric J. Rosol, 37, Black Creek, Wis., pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of accessing a protected computer.
In his plea, he admitted that on Feb. 28, 2011, he took part in a denial of service attack on the Web page of Koch Industries, Kochind.com. From Wisconsin, he used software called a Low Orbit Ion Cannon Code, which was loaded on his computer. He took part in the attack for approximately one minute.
The attack, which was organized by a computer hacking group known as Anonymous caused Kochind.com to go offline for approximately 15 minutes.
Koch Industries had hired a consulting group to protect its Web sites at a cost of approximately $183,000. The parties agree that the cost attributed to the defendant’s attack is less than $5,000.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 2. He faces a maximum penalty of one year in federal prison, a fine of up to $100,000 and restitution in an amount to be determined by the judge.
Grissom commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger for their work on the case.
