Nicolas Jacobsen

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Nicolas Jacobsen is a hacker who during much of 2004 had illegal access to the backbone of the T-Mobile USA network. Besides stealing classified US Secret Service documents and selling them on IRC, he amused himself and friends by finding out celebrity phone numbers (including that of Paris Hilton, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher) and intercepting recently made photos from their handsets. Jacobsen could access information on any of the Bellevue, Washington-based company's 16.3 million customers, including many customers' Social Security numbers and dates of birth, according to government filings in the case.

T-Mobile, which apparently knew of the intrusions by July 2004, has not issued any public warning. Under California's anti-identity theft law "SB1386," the company is obliged to notify any California customers of a security breach in which their personally identifiable information is "reasonably believed to have been" compromised. That notification must be made in "the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay," but may be postponed if a law enforcement agency determines that the disclosure would compromise an investigation.

He was captured by the Secret Service in October 2004 and few details of the trial have been released to the public. According to some sources the Secret Service may be trying to hire him to help capture other hackers.