Pamela C. Marsh, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced that three men were indicted yesterday in the November 2010 iRattler computer system hacking case. Carl Joseph Coutard, 21, and Carliss Pereira, 22, both from Miami, and Christopher J. Wright, 22 from Fort Lauderdale, allegedly planned to illegally gain access to Florida A&M University students’ iRattler account information and attempted to re-route student financial aid into stolen accounts. Wright is charged with one count of using an unauthorized access device while Coutard and Pereira are charged with possession of over 15 unauthorized access devices. Each offense is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. All men are also charged with identity theft, which has a mandatory 2-year sentence that must be observed with any other sentence. They are also charged with computer intrusion and conspiracy offenses, which each carry a maximum sentence of 5 years. Sharon Saunders, FAMU’s Chief Communications Officer, said that FAMU has taken precautionary measures to ensure student privacy through online services. “Since the indictment in 2010, the university has put additional security measures in place to set up direct deposit accounts for students,” she said. Today at 4:05 p.m. the FAMU Office of Communications released the following statement regarding the indictments: “Florida A&M University has implemented additional security measures related to students setting up direct deposit accounts since the 2010 incident. The U.S. Attorney’s Office involvement in issuing indictments indicates that FAMU is serious about addressing the alleged criminal acts. As a point of clarification, the individuals did not hack into the system, but gained access to student personal information using deceptive tactics and improperly used the information to commit the alleged criminal acts. Since implementing the security measures, FAMU has not had any repeat incidents.”