Kansas City man indicted for computer hacking nonprofit and health club business

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A federal grand jury indicted a Kansas City man Friday for hacking into computer systems at an area nonprofit and a health club business.

Court documents said 31-year-old Nicholas Michael Kloster was charged with one count of accessing a protected computer without authorization and obtaining information.

Kloster allegedly entered a business court documents identified as “Company Victim 2,” which operates multiple health clubs in Kansas and Missouri, just before midnight on April 26, 2024. Kloster then sent an email the next day telling the business owner he gained access to the computer system.

After his intrusion, employees at the business said Kloster’s monthly gym membership fee was reduced to $1, his photo was erased from the gym’s network and they determined he stole a gym staff nametag. A few weeks later, the man posted an image to his social media page appearing to show a screen capture of him controlling the security cameras at the business.

The federal indictment, which was filed under seal Tuesday, Nov. 19, and unsealed Friday when the indictment returned, also charged the 31-year-old with one count of causing reckless damage to a protected computer during unauthorized access.

In May, Kloster allegedly entered the building for a nonprofit and accessed a computer to access the company’s network. He then utilized a boot disk, setting himself up to access the company’s computer through multiple user accounts and circumvent password requirements. Court documents said Kloster was able to install a virtual private network on “Company Victim 3′s” computer and his actions led to the company losing more than $5,000 in an attempt to fix the issues caused by his intrusion.

A business Kloster worked for in March and April 2024 was listed in court documents as “Company Victim 1.” He allegedly used a company credit card to make numerous personal purchases, including a thumb drive that was advertised as a means to hack into vulnerable computers.

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