Matt Weiss who served as an assistant football coach at University of Michigan pleaded not guilty when federal authorities charged him with hacking thousands of college athletes to steal their personal content. Weiss entered federal court in Detroit where a judge filed a not-guilty plea in his place including his status as an assistant coach for the Baltimore Ravens and his current position as 42 years old.
The 14-page indictment establishes that Weiss committed unauthorized computer access along with identity theft throughout 2015 to the beginning of 2023. Weiss is accused through the indictment of accessing Keffer Development Services databases which serve more than 100 colleges and universities to download personal and medical records of over 150,000 student athletes. Weiss reportedly broke into social media platforms and cloud storage spans and accessed email services of more than 2,000 athletes whose main targets were college women athletes to get their private content.
A legal action as a class claim now seeks justice on behalf of two former student athletes from Michigan University female gymnastics and women's soccer teams. Plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the university for alleged inadequate supervision of Weiss which caused the invasion of their privacy. The University of Michigan chose not to provide statements regarding the pending legal complaint.
After spending 2021 on the University of Michigan coaching staff Weiss became the co-offensive coordinator in 2022 until his termination in 2023. His position at school ended in 2023 because he did not participate in the school investigation about his supposed behaviors. Weiss worked at the Baltimore Ravens for more than 10 years before beginning his Michigan University coaching period.
A conviction against Weiss would result in serious legal consequences which can produce prison sentences of five years per unauthorized access count combined with mandatory two-year sentences per instance of aggravated identity theft.
Public attention has focused on this case because it exposes privacy issues related to digital assets and shows how institutions should protect personal information. The ongoing legal process will likely produce additional information about both the dimension of the suspected hacking plot and its consequences on those whose information was stolen.