PHOTO of brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter from wardensystems.com

__________ Just a few years ago, twin brothers from Springfield Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter were being hailed for their educational genius — graduating from George Mason University with engineering degrees when both were just 19 years old.

The Washington Post said in 2011: "I think we'll be hearing more about these guys." Obviously, no one at the time was thinking the news would be about criminal activity.

Four years later, both now 23 years old, the twins pleaded guilty last week to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to access a protected computer without authorization, and conspiracy to access a government computer without authorization, according to a news release from the FBI. Muneeb Akhter also pleaded guilty to additional charges of accessing a protected computer without authorization, making a false statement, and obstructing justice, the FBI said.

In March 2014, Muneeb Akhter hacked into the website of a cosmetics company and stole thousands of its customers' credit card and personal information, according to the FBI.

The Akhter brothers and co-conspirators used the stolen information to purchase goods and services, including flights, hotel reservations, and attendance at professional conferences. Muneeb Akhter also provided stolen information to an individual he met on the "dark net," who sold the information to other dark-net users and gave Akhter a share of the profits, the FBI noted.

In a separate scheme, the Akhter brothers and co-conspirators engaged in a series of computer intrusions and attempted computer intrusions against the U.S. Department of State to obtain sensitive passport and visa information and other related and valuable information about State Department computer systems, the FBI said. In or around February 2015, Sohaib Akhter used his contract position at the State Department to access sensitive computer systems containing personally identifiable information belonging to dozens of co-workers, acquaintances, a former employer, and a federal law enforcement agent investigating his crimes, the FBI noted.