crime
British hacker faces up to 70 years in US prison
A British hacker has performed complex SIM swap attacks. In the US, he faces a long prison sentence. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/Illustration
Among other things, he hacked the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden and Elon Musk – now a 23-year-old has to go to prison for a long time. The prosecutor describes the activities as “shameless and malicious”.
A Briton has pleaded guilty to several hacking attacks and cyberstalking before the US judiciary. According to the British news agency PA, in July 2020 the 23-year-old, who went by the alias “PlugwalkJoe”, hacked over 100 Twitter accounts, including those of US President Joe Biden, ex-US President Barack Obama, reality star Kim Kardashian and Twitter- Owner Elon Musk.
The responsible prosecutor Kenneth Polite of the US Department of Justice described the activities of the 23-year-old in a statement on Tuesday (local time) as “shameless and malicious”. He faces a total of more than 70 years in prison on multiple counts.
Prosecutor: Hacker wanted to steal cryptocurrency
According to the ministry, the man was extradited from Spain to the United States at the end of April. “He conducted a complex SIM-swap attack to steal large amounts of cryptocurrency, hacked Twitter, compromised computers to take over social media accounts and even tracked two victims, including one underage, via the internet,” said the prosecutor of the court in the Southern District in New York, dealing with the case, Damian Williams.
SIM swap is a scam in which criminals gain access to their victim’s cell phone number to impersonate them. This will give them access to accounts registered under that number. He tried to remain anonymous by hiding behind cover accounts and pseudonyms from outside the United States, it said. “But this admission shows that our investigators and prosecutors will identify, track down and bring to justice such criminals to ensure they face the consequences for their crimes,” Polite said.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the 23-year-old has agreed to pay around 794,000 US dollars (approx. 725,000 euros) in damages to the victims of his crimes. A verdict is expected on June 23.