Vietnamese hacker breaks into Perth airport system, finds his way to prison

Hacking takes all kinds of forms, and sometimes it’s not personal data that’s at risk but rather sensitive commercial or government data that’s the target. That’s particularly true for companies and agencies that run important public services such as transportation, where information like security protocols could be valuable to certain nefarious parties. That’s what makes the theft of sensitive information from Australia’s Perth Airport so scary, and the arrest of the guilty hacker so encouraging.

According to Hot For Security, 31-year-old Le Duc Hoang Hai, a Vietnamese citizen, hacked into the airport’s systems and stole building plans and security information. His method wasn’t particularly technical, rather a byproduct of agencies using third-party contractors. Hai used a contractor’s login credentials to access the information rather than leveraging some complicated network vulnerability, and it’s not clear how he gained access to those credentials.