Joseph O’Connor, a British hacker who operated underneath the pseudonym PlugwalkJoe, has been given a five-year jail sentence in the US. His conviction stems from his involvement in a SIM swap assault concentrating on a high-profile cryptocurrency trade govt in April 2019, ensuing within the theft of digital belongings valued at roughly $794,000.
Having initially been apprehended in Spain in July 2021, PlugwalkJoe was extradited to the U.S. on April 26, 2023, to face justice. Demonstrating a willingness to cooperate with authorities, he entered a responsible plea in Might.
For extra clarification, a SIM swap hack is a type of cyber assault the place hackers fraudulently acquire management of a sufferer’s cellphone quantity by tricking the cellular service. By doing so, they’ll bypass two-factor authentication and acquire entry to the sufferer’s delicate info, corresponding to monetary accounts.
PlugwalkJoe: Sentencing And Felony Actions
The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace of the Southern District of New York emphasised the severity of the jail sentence in an official assertion launched on June 23.
Except for the imprisonment, PlugwalkJoe was additionally subjected to 3 years of supervised launch as a part of his sentencing. Moreover, according to the statement provided, he was instructed to make a considerable forfeiture cost amounting to $794,000.
Though the id of the focused cryptocurrency govt stays undisclosed, O’Connor efficiently executed a SIM swap on this particular person.
This illicit maneuver allowed O’Connor to achieve unauthorized entry into numerous accounts and pc programs related to the cryptocurrency trade the place the chief was employed.
The assertion learn:
“Following the illicit acquisition of the stolen cryptocurrency, O’Connor and his accomplices engaged in a sequence of misleading practices to launder the funds. By way of a mess of transfers and transactions, they intentionally obscured the origins of the illicitly obtained digital belongings. Moreover, a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency was transformed into Bitcoin by leveraging cryptocurrency trade providers. This covert conversion course of allowed them to additional obfuscate the path of the misappropriated funds.”
Intricate Cyber Methods Unveiled
In line with the assertion, a major fraction of the stolen cryptocurrency was traced again to a cryptocurrency exchange account underneath O’Connor’s management. This revelation additional solidifies his direct involvement in illicit actions.
Along with his involvement within the cryptocurrency theft, O’Connor’s sentence encompasses his participation within the Twitter hack in July 2020. Throughout this incident, O’Connor and his staff gathered roughly $120,000 in illicit cryptocurrency good points.
The assertion highlights how PlugwalkJoe and his co-conspirators leveraged their management over the compromised Twitter accounts. They engaged in numerous fraudulent actions, together with schemes to defraud others and promoting entry to the hacked accounts to events.
O’Connor’s involvement within the scheme prolonged past digital manipulation. He tried to blackmail a sufferer on Snapchat by threatening to show non-public messages until they made posts selling PlugwalkJoe’s on-line persona.
Moreover, O’Connor resorted to stalking and threatening one other particular person, orchestrating swatting assaults by falsely reporting emergencies to authorities and concentrating on the sufferer.
Featured picture from Twitter, chart from TradingView.com
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