Breach, Americas, Content, MSSP

Former ADT Security Technician Pleads Guilty to Hacking Customers

A former ADT employee has pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking into customers' home video feeds, according to The United States Attorney's Office for the North District of Texas.

Telesforo Aviles, a former ADT employee, pleaded guilty to computer fraud on January 21. In a prepared statement about the case, Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah said:

“This defendant, entrusted with safeguarding customers’ homes, instead intruded on their most intimate moments. We are glad to hold him accountable for this disgusting betrayal of trust.”

To access customer systems, Aviles admitted that he illegally added his personal email address to customers’ ADT Pulse accounts. The illegal step gave Aviles real-time access to video feeds from ADT customers' homes.  Over a 4.5 year period, Aviles secretly accessed roughly 200 customer accounts more than 9,600 times without their consent, the court case revealed. Aviles now faces up to five years in federal prison, the prosecutor asserts.

ADT maintains a webpage related to the case here.

In addition to its consumer home security service, ADT also operates a Top 250 MSSP business.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.