Twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter were arrested in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday for allegedly stealing and destroying government data held by a government contractor minutes after they were fired from the company earlier this year, the Justice Department said.
Prosecutors accuse the 34-year-old brothers of the crimes during a weeklong spree in February, compromising data from multiple federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Authorities did not name the federal government contractor, which provides services and hosts data for more than 45 federal agencies, but the company was previously identified as Washington-based Opexus in a Bloomberg report about the insider attack earlier this year. Opexus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The brothers are no strangers to law enforcement, the hacking community and government contract work. They previously pleaded guilty in 2015 to wire fraud and conspiring to hack into the State Department and other crimes while they were employed as contractors for federal agencies. Muneeb Akhter was sentenced to 39 months in prison and Sohaib Akhter was sentenced to 24 months in prison at that time.
Advertisement
An investigation aided by more than 20 federal agencies and specialized units alleges the brothers were back at it a decade later, committing cybercrime with privileged access and technical expertise gained from their e
Source: https://cyberscoop.com/muneeb-sohaib-akhter-government-contractors-insider-attack/
TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/opexustech
"id": "ope1764814400",
"linkid": "opexustech",
"type": "Breach",
"date": "2025-12-03T00:00:00.000Z",
"severity": "100",
"impact": "5",
"explanation": "Attack threatening the organization's existence"{'incident': {'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': '45+ federal '
'agencies '
'(including DHS, '
'IRS, EEOC)',
'industry': 'IT Services, Government '
'Contracting',
'location': 'Washington, D.C.',
'name': 'Opexus',
'size': None,
'type': 'Government Contractor'}],
'attack_vector': 'Privileged Access Abuse',
'data_breach': {'data_encryption': None,
'data_exfiltration': 'Suspected (not confirmed)',
'file_types_exposed': None,
'number_of_records_exposed': None,
'personally_identifiable_information': 'Possible '
'(not '
'confirmed)',
'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
'type_of_data_compromised': 'Government data, '
'potentially '
'sensitive federal '
'records'},
'date_detected': '2023-02',
'description': 'Twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter were '
'arrested for allegedly stealing and destroying '
'government data held by a government contractor '
'minutes after they were fired from the company. '
'The incident compromised data from multiple '
'federal agencies including the Department of '
'Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service, and '
'the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.',
'impact': {'brand_reputation_impact': 'High (for Opexus and '
'affected federal '
'agencies)',
'conversion_rate_impact': None,
'customer_complaints': None,
'data_compromised': 'Government data from multiple '
'federal agencies',
'downtime': None,
'financial_loss': None,
'identity_theft_risk': 'High (if PII was compromised)',
'legal_liabilities': 'Yes (criminal charges filed)',
'operational_impact': 'Data destruction and potential '
'exfiltration',
'payment_information_risk': None,
'revenue_loss': None,
'systems_affected': None},
'initial_access_broker': {'backdoors_established': None,
'data_sold_on_dark_web': 'Suspected '
'(not '
'confirmed)',
'entry_point': None,
'high_value_targets': None,
'reconnaissance_period': None},
'investigation_status': 'Ongoing',
'motivation': 'Retaliation (post-termination), Financial Gain '
'(potential dark web sale)',
'post_incident_analysis': {'corrective_actions': None,
'root_causes': 'Insider threat due to '
'privileged access, '
'lack of immediate '
'access revocation '
'post-termination'},
'ransomware': {'data_encryption': None,
'data_exfiltration': None,
'ransom_demanded': None,
'ransom_paid': None,
'ransomware_strain': None},
'references': [{'date_accessed': None,
'source': 'Justice Department',
'url': None},
{'date_accessed': None,
'source': 'Bloomberg',
'url': None}],
'regulatory_compliance': {'fines_imposed': None,
'legal_actions': 'Criminal charges '
'filed (wire fraud, '
'data destruction)',
'regulations_violated': ['Potential '
'violations '
'of federal '
'data '
'protection '
'laws (e.g., '
'FISMA)'],
'regulatory_notifications': None},
'response': {'adaptive_behavioral_waf': None,
'communication_strategy': None,
'containment_measures': None,
'enhanced_monitoring': None,
'incident_response_plan_activated': None,
'law_enforcement_notified': 'Yes (FBI and 20+ '
'federal agencies '
'involved)',
'network_segmentation': None,
'on_demand_scrubbing_services': None,
'recovery_measures': None,
'remediation_measures': None,
'third_party_assistance': None},
'threat_actor': 'Muneeb Akhter, Sohaib Akhter',
'title': 'Insider Data Theft and Destruction by Former '
'Government Contractors',
'type': 'Insider Threat, Data Theft, Data Destruction'}}