School Lunch CFO Arrested in Hacking of Rival | Avast
Every form of crime seems to invade the world of cybersecurity. Sooner or later that had to include the age-old childhood bullying trauma of school lunch theft. Except in this case the pilfered prize was data, not baloney.
Keith Wesley Cosbey, CFO of California school lunch provider Choicelunch, was arrested in April on two felony counts — identity theft and unlawful computer access. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that law enforcement accuses Cosbey of hacking into the network of longtime Choicelunch rival The LunchMaster, accessing sensitive student data including names, grades, meal preferences, and allergy info.
The charges contend that Cosbey, claiming to be an anonymous tipster, then sent the stolen data to the California Department of Education in an attempt to discredit The LunchMaster by exposing weak security and complaining the company does not do enough to protect student data.
When the Department of Education confronted The LunchMaster about the breach, the company launched an internal investigation. The LunchMaster cybersecurity team was able to trace the breach back to an IP address in Danville, Calif., where Choicelunch is based. The LunchMaster contacted the FBI in April 2018, and after a yearlong investigation, Cosbey was arrested.
Cosbey is currently out on $125,000 bond and is due in court later this month. If convicted, he faces over three years in prison. This week, investigators allowed LunchMaster to notify families affected by the breach, which the company has been doing, The Chronicle reported.
Gloss