Charles Harvey Eccleston, aged 62, a former US government employee with the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was charged with a four count violation of federal law in connection with an attempted phishing scheme involving Department of Energy employee emails.

The intent was to inject malware into the victims systems, by using spammed emails,in order to steal sensitive information pertaining to US government nuclear information and send it to individuals in a foreign country.

The indictment charges Eccleston with four felony offenses including three counts of crimes involving unauthorized access of computers and one count of wire fraud.

Acting US Attorney Cohen stated: "Thanks to an innovative operation by the FBI, no malicious code was actually transmitted to government computers. This prosecution demonstrates federal law enforcement's vigorous efforts to neutralize cyber threats that put consumers, our economy, and our national security at risk."

Eccleston will remain detained until a hearing scheduled for May 20.

Source: Jurist.org