:: Deepquest ::

Three young hackers under investigation for unlawfully accessing personal information on thousands of people in a LexisNexis database have characterized their act as a cyberjoyride that got out of hand.

The hackers, ages 16, 19 and 20, spoke with Wired News by phone Monday and said that in January and February they accessed LexisNexis data — which included the Social Security number, birth date, home address and driver’s license number of numerous celebrities and hacker friends — to claim bragging rights, rather than to steal identities or sell the information to identity thieves, as some published reports have stated.

“We didn’t use the info for bad reasons,” said the 16-year-old from Massachusetts, who goes by the handle “Cam0.” “It was to have the info and get kicks out of it.”

Two law enforcement authorities involved in the LexisNexis investigation told Wired News that they have found no evidence, so far, to indicate that the three hackers used the data to steal identities. They cautioned, however, that the investigation was still underway.

The hackers, who asked Wired News not to disclose their real names because they haven’t been arrested or charged with any crime yet, are suspects in a Secret Service investigation into the breach, called Operation Boca Grande (Spanish for “big mouth”), which resulted in raids last week on nine people in four states.

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