A Kentucky man, Jesse Kipf, was sentenced to 81 months in prison after hacking into a state registry to fake his own death in an attempt to evade paying over $116,000 in child support. Kipf accessed the Hawaii Death Registry System in January 2023 using stolen credentials from a physician. He then submitted and “certified” his own death, hoping to escape his financial obligations.
Kipf’s criminal activities extended beyond Hawaii. He hacked into other state death registry systems and various governmental and corporate networks using stolen credentials. Kipf attempted to sell access to these compromised systems on the dark web, further compounding his illegal activities.
“Working in collaboration with our law enforcement partners, this defendant who hacked a variety of computer systems and maliciously stole the identity of others for his own personal gain, will now pay the price,” said Michael E. Stansbury, special agent in charge at the FBI’s Louisville Field Office. Kipf was convicted of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The breach was discovered in March 2023 when Hawaii’s Department of Health began issuing breach notification letters. The cybersecurity firm Mandiant had alerted the department that credentials belonging to an external medical certifier had been sold on the dark web. The compromised account was linked to a medical certifier who had worked for a local hospital but left the position in 2021. Kipf accessed the account in January 2023, coinciding with the breach of the Hawaii Death Registry System.
In the same year, Kipf also used stolen credentials to infiltrate networks belonging to companies such as Guest-Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd. and Milestone, Inc. These networks were associated with services provided to hotel chains, including internet connectivity.
According to a sentencing memo from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn M. Dieruf, Kipf not only sold access to hacked databases but also shared tips on dark web forums for infiltrating death registry systems. He sold stolen information to customers in Russia, Algeria, and Ukraine, among others.
While seeking a seven-year sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dieruf emphasized the need for a strong deterrent against cybercrime. “Similarly situated individuals must see the real danger they present to victims and be deterred from engaging in online criminal conduct by the fear of punishment,” she wrote. “The cloak of anonymity afforded by the dark web is too alluring without the persistent threat of being brought to justice and serving a significant sentence.”
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