A former US soldier accused of hacking into AT&T and Verizon techniques and leaking presidential name logs pleaded responsible to fraud and identification theft expenses, the US Division of Justice introduced.
Based on courtroom paperwork, the person, Cameron John Wagenius, 21, engaged in hacking and extortion actions between April 2023 and December 2024, whereas on lively obligation with the US Military.
Utilizing the nickname ‘kiberphant0m’, Wagenius and his co-conspirators aimed to defraud no less than 10 organizations after acquiring login credentials for his or her networks.
The credentials, paperwork introduced in courtroom present, have been obtained utilizing a hacking device known as SSH Brute and thru different means. The miscreants used Telegram group chats to share the stolen login info and to debate acquiring entry to the victims’ networks.
The hackers exfiltrated information from the compromised networks and extorted the victims, each by way of non-public communication and on public boards, threatening to publish the stolen info on cybercrime portals corresponding to BreachForums and XSS.is.
Based on courtroom paperwork, the suspects additionally provided the info on the market on these boards, and efficiently offered a few of it. Moreover, they used the info in different fraud schemes, corresponding to SIM swapping.
The previous US Military soldier and his co-conspirators tried to extort over $1 million from the sufferer firms, the DoJ says.
Wagenius, who was arrested in December 2024, pleaded responsible to wire fraud conspiracy and extortion expenses, which carry most penalties of 20 and 5 years in jail, and to identification theft expenses, for which he could possibly be sentenced to a compulsory two-year jail sentence, consecutive to some other jail time.Commercial. Scroll to proceed studying.
Beforehand, he pleaded responsible to sharing confidential cellphone data, in reference to these assaults.
The sufferer organizations haven’t been named, however investigative journalist Brian Krebs revealed that Wagenius was promoting cellphone data stolen from AT&T and Verizon, and was seemingly concerned within the Snowflake hacking marketing campaign that affected a whole bunch of organizations.
Wagenius’ co-conspirators embrace Canadian nationwide Connor Riley Moucka, also referred to as Judische, who was arrested in late October 2024 in connection to the Snowflake account hacking, and John Erin Binns, who was concerned within the AT&T hack and beforehand took credit score for the 2021 T-Cellular hack. Binns was arrested in Turkey in Might 2024.
Associated: Man Who Hacked Organizations to Promote Safety Providers Pleads Responsible
Associated: Iranian Man Pleads Responsible to Function in Baltimore Ransomware Assault
Associated: US Pupil to Plead Responsible Over PowerSchool Hack
Associated: Suspected Scattered Spider Hacker Pleads Responsible