Daniel Beckwitt

Daniel Beckwitt (born 1991) is an American security researcher, phone phreak, convicted computer criminal and grey hat hacker known for presenting work on digital currency, anti-computer forensics and signals intelligence at computer security conferences including DEF CON, Shmoocon and Skytalks. Beckwitt attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2010 to 2012.
Beckwitt was arrested on January 18, 2013 a joint operation by the FBI, Urbana, Illinois Police and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Police Department involving simultaneous search warrant execution, and booked into Champaign County, Illinois Jail on the charge of Aggrivated Computer Tampering. He was alleged to have been responsible for the University's largest hacking incident, a string of bizarre hacking pranks stretching several months, the perpetrator of which became known as the "ECE Hacker" on social media website Reddit. The incidents included rescheduling exams, defacing course webpages, sending unauthorized massmails, and compromising the University's electronic lock system through the use of keyloggers. There was no known motive for the attacks.
On June 3rd, 2013 he entered into a plea agreement to a single charge of Computer Fraud under 720 ILCS 5/17-50(2). At sentencing presiding Judge Heidi Ladd said Beckwitt "knowingly obtained use of a computer with the intent of devising a scheme used for deception".
The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois refused to press federal charges for the incidents.

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