Government & Regulatory | Legal / Lawsuit
Oilpro.com Founder Hit with Indictment for Hacking Rigzone
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Oilpro.com founder David W. Kent has been indicted after allegedly hacking Rigzone, a company he also founded and later sold, to obtain customer information, according to reports.
Kent and his father started Rigzone in 2000, and went on to sell the company to DHI Group in August of 2010 in a deal worth $51 million. Following the sale of Rigzone, Kent founded Oilpro.com, an oil and gas networking website, in 2013.
The pending charges include conspiracy to commit computer hacking and wire fraud. The lawsuit alleges that Kent attempted to boost Oilpro's membership count by hacking into Rigzone's customer database.
The case is being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The case is U.S. v. Kent, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-mj-1906.
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