On Thursday, May 1st, in the year of our Lord, 2025, the Archdiocese of New Orleans' attorneys argued before Federal Judge Meredith Grabill of the Lousiana Eastern District Federal Court that Berkeley Research Group was “potentially” hacked of victim PII (Personally Identifiable Information).

The Archdiocese attorney cried that they needed more time to get to the bottom of this, as to protect their own victims? Whatever. They told Judge Grabill that there was an active FBI investigation  going on. The Archdiocese’s attorneys and Berkeley Research Group went on to characterize it as a “Ransomware” attack. A huge mistake on their part, and I’ll tell you why.

Aside from being a child sex abuse activist and advocate for 12 years, my only career day job is being a computer scientist for almost 40 years, about 25 of them are and now specializing in Information Security, otherwise known as “Cybersecurity.” I am an expert at computer forensics, incident response, and I have also been an expert witness in several unrelated cases. I help write, review and rate the CompTIA “Security+” exam, of which anyone who has administrative privileges to any Federal, to include all .mil and .gov systems, must pass before getting that access. 

My Bonafides are firm and well-established. Now then…

First, a hacker that needs or wants your data comes like a thief in the night. He’ll have you, and have access to your data. He wants your data. He will do it methodically, he will throttle the speed of the data extraction, he will mix it in with normal data transfers, and you’ll never know it happened, until it is too late. You’ll know when. He exposes your data to expose you, exploit the data, or for a cause of some sort.

Second, a “Ransomware” hacker, in a ransomware “Attack,” doesn't give a shit about your data. But they know it is very valuable to you. So they don’t steal or otherwise transfer and/or take possession of your data. They encrypt it at rest, until you pay them a ransom in Bitcoin. It’s that simple.

I was somewhat surprised when the Archdiocese and Berkeley Research Group made this claim, and Judge Meredith Grabill didn’t even ask how much was the ransom? I am dubious as to how the chain-of-custody of this “potential” attack was handled. And does Berkeley Research Group have a documented business practice of daily auditing their data communications logs, and proof of their adherence to their own policy? I hope they do, because if not, it is not legally admissible. Of course there is an FBI investigation going on, but into the crimes of the Archdiocese. I hope Berkeley Research Group didn’t make a false FBI claim.

And now that both the Archdiocese of New Orleans, their attorneys, and Berkeley Research group owe the victims and survivors a detailed, regular report of what happened to the PII, who has it.

We also need a young attorney, fresh out of law school, and just passed the bar exam, to sue the living shit out of all of them for their "potential" breach of victim data. Because the victims never, ever gave consent or permission for their data to be given to Berkley Research Group in the first place.

Now aspiring Eagle Scouts, let’s gather around the campfire, and get the marshmallows and hotdogs, and allow a TRUE Eagle Scout to tell you not a ghost story, but a horror story: 

Once upon a time, a child sex abuse victim of the Boy Scouts, a Police Detective, and the Jesuit Order had registered the internet domain name “bigeasy.com.” He was the first to bring the Internet to New Orleans. Not just a domain name, but the infrastructure to support it. He invented the Proxy Server, and “Fair-Weight Queuing” for Frame-Relay Networks, and described in his doctoral dissertation “Terabit Burst-Switching."

So first, “New Orleans Tours” came a knockin’ and wanted the domain name, but he wasn’t selling. A humble ISP, that was affordable to anyone, started to grow regionally. Bellsouth took notice, and offered to buy it out. He was on the fence about that. Then Archdiocese attorneys entered, and offered money. He said that price was not enough, but the old man himself at the law firm said that was going to be the maximum offered. He declined.

Some weeks had passed. And then Archdiocese attorneys approached him again. Same dollar amount, but with some intangible sweeteners. So in addition, we’ll give you a long weekend at a condo at the Pontalba Building. That’s where “Mayor” Cantrelle identified a weak man and ruined his marriage. And also, a free, no tab dinner, of any amount of your people at a choice of any of the restaurants in the Brennan brand.

He said, “Sure, let’s ink this deal.” New Orleans Tours paid the dollar amount. He tried over and over and over again, but Pontalba was always booked. he inquired, and the answer was that he’d never get a weekend, try Tuesday though Thursday. he said “eh, fuck it.” But one day he tried to make a reservation for a small party at Brennan’s on Royal Street, which was owed to him. Always booked. Then he got really pissed, and wanted answers.

But on the day he purchased, in person, a Nokia cell phone in Atlanta, with a credit card and video footage of the purchase, the Archdiocese attorneys produced a forged receipt from another Brennan restaurant on Canal Street; an intangible deal sweetener, no credit card or video footage. The receipts were about an hour and a half apart on the same day. The attorneys for the Archdiocese argued it only takes 45 minutes to fly from Atlanta to New Orleans. Nope, at that time of day, it took 2 hours to get from Alpharetta to the Atlanta airport. 

Busted.

The moral of the story, young Eagles? There is a reason that the victims, survivors, and their attorneys, along with citizens stand before the cameras speaking at the top of their lungs. And there is a reason that Archdiocese attorneys won’t face the camera, and scuttle out the side door, refusing to answer questions, when confronted by a reporter, while rushing to go back under their rock. 

Young Eagles, never allow anyone to clip your wings. You were meant to soar, not waddle around like a penguin, being picked off one-by-one, and eaten by Killer Whales. I’ll leave it up to your imagination who are the Killer Whales. The “potential” hack of victim data? Fake news. And what’s worse, in my humble opinion, false testimony. 

Again, Lady Justice weeps.

Time to go to sleep young Eagles. Get some rest. And know that tonight, no “Scoutmaster” will enter your nest, OR ELSE. Maybe around the campfire another night, I will tell you about the Archdiocese attorneys and the “Haunted Gym Towel at Elmwood Fitness Center.”

Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is a victim of childhood sexual abuse, confidential help and advocacy are available through Survivors of Childhood Sex Abuse (SCSA) at 469-275-1439, or by visiting http://www.scsaorg.org.

About

About the author: Dr. Windmann has been an activist and advocate for chilldhood sex abuse victims and survivors for over a decade. He is one of the co-founders of Survivors of Childhood Sex Abuse, and is currently the president of the organization. He is also a prolific speaker and writer on the subject of childhood sex abuse, and appeared in the Netflix documentary "Scouts Honor: The Secret Files Of The Boy Scouts Of America." You can contact him at [email protected].

The free reprint, distribution, dissemination, promulgation and/or sharing of this article, in its whole, by anyone, is not only allowed, but is encouraged.