Football coach cracks encrypted passwords via “research he did on the internet"

An American football coach has allegedly hacked into databases to download the personal information of 150,000 people – with the goal of stealing photos and videos of college athletes naked.

Matthew Weiss, 42, a former football coach at the University of Michigan, has allegedly been hacking into college athlete databases for roughly eight years.

Between 2015 and 2023, Weiss allegedly accessed information from over 100 colleges and universities operated by the third-party vendor Keffer Development Services.

The coach downloaded personal information, which included medical data, of over 150,000 athletes.

After obtaining this information and through his own research, Weiss managed to break into the social media accounts, emails, and cloud storage accounts of thousands of athletes, students, and alumni from universities across the US.

Once Weiss accessed these accounts, he then allegedly downloaded “intimate digital photographs and videos” that weren’t meant to be accessed, said the Department of Justice.

The indictment states that Weiss “primarily targeted female college athletes” and “researched and targeted these women based on their school affiliation, athletic history, and physical characteristics” with the goal of accessing private images and videos that weren’t meant to be shared with anyone other than intimate partners.

Weiss allegedly kept notes on his victims, which commented on their bodies and sexual preferences.

The former coach managed to break into these databases by “compromising the passwords of accounts with elevated access.”

The indictment alleges that Weiss hacked into the accounts of trainers and athletic directors.

Weiss went as far as downloading passwords used by athletes to access Keffer Development Services.

While these passwords were encrypted, Weiss managed to decrypt them via “research he did on the internet.”

The football coach also exploited vulnerabilities that allowed him to access the accounts of students and alums across various US colleges and universities.

Weiss has been indicted on 24 counts, including 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft. Today, he pleaded not guilty in court.

According to the Department of Justice, Weiss “stood mute, and the judge entered a not guilty into the record.”