Hacked Data For A Half-Million Bucks?

An e-commerce company called Digital River Inc. has sued a 19-year-old New Yorker and his company, alleging that he improperly obtained personal data of 200,000 people that was hacked from Digital River and tried to sell the data to a marketing firm for $500,000.

Digital River, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., obtained a secret court order last month to stop Eric Porat of Brooklyn from selling, destroying or altering the data that Digital River believes was first stolen by hackers in New Delhi, India, according to a June 4 report in the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

A federal judge said he initially allowed lawsuit documents to be filed under seal so Digital River could issue subpoenas and safeguard evidence that might otherwise be destroyed. All documents were unsealed last week, however, after a federal court hearing on the case.

A Digital River subsidiary sells a software program that helps companies create and manage “affiliated marketing” programs, in which businesses pay a commission to affiliates that post links on the Internet that drive customers to participating companies. Data gathered by the program is stored on Digital River’s servers, and access is controlled by passwords and other security measures, the company says.

According to documents in the lawsuit, Porat — who lives at home with his parents — claimed in emails to a Denver marketing company that he had consumer-tracking information, including names, email addresses and user-identification numbers, for more than 198,000 people. He offered to sell the information to the Denver company, Media Breakaway, for $500,000. Court records indicate that Porat tried to sell the information to other companies as well.

Media Breakaway executives said the company first rejected Porat’s offer, then notified Digital River when Porat persisted.

According to court records and testimony last week, Digital River officials suspect the information was stolen by hackers in New Delhi, India, possibly with help from a contractor working for Digital River.

A lawyer for Digital River said a federal grand jury also is investigating the alleged data theft.