Sydney man allegedly stole $600k of AWS Snowball drives

A 26-year-old Sydney man has been charged after allegedly stealing and dismantling $600,000 worth of AWS Snowball mass storage units.

It is alleged that the man was shipped 31 of the Snowball devices, which can be rented from AWS to perform large data migrations into the cloud.

He was arrested and charged with larceny following a joint investigation by the NSW Police cybercrime squad and the FBI.

Investigators said that the “web-based storage solution company in the United States” that was involved - which ABC Local identified as AWS - made “extensive attempts to recover the devices” but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Cybercrime investigators raided a home in Bronte in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and “located 30 devices, which had the internal components removed”.

“Investigations into the on-sale of the internal components are continuing,” NSW Police said in a statement.

Police said that “given the nature of the devices, there was no potential for any data to have been compromised”.

Cybercrime squad commander, Detective Acting Superintendent Matt Craft, said the investigation highlighted the importance of cross-border investigation.

“We now live in a global economy, which means the technology we enjoy can also be exploited by from anywhere and target anyone,” Craft said.

“Therefore, to effectively target cyber and tech-related crimes, it needs to be a collaborative international approach, not only from law enforcement, but also from private enterprise.

“This investigation – and yesterday’s arrest – shows we are connected to law enforcement and industry partners worldwide, and the high-level of cooperation has allowed us to move quickly to identify the location of the devices.”