U.S. Military soldier Cameron John Wagenius, 20, has been arrested and charged with unlawfully transferring confidential cellphone information.
Federal authorities accuse the younger soldier of collaborating in a cybercriminal ring that bought delicate knowledge, together with alleged cellphone information of President-elect Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, on the black market.
The indictment, unsealed this week, reveals two counts of illegal switch of confidential cellphone information filed towards Wagenius, in line with KrebsonSecurity.
The costs comply with a December 20 arrest close to Fort Hood, Texas, a base related to Fort Cavazos the place Wagenius was stationed.
Wagenius, described by his mom as a tech-savvy soldier, labored on community communications at an Military base in South Korea earlier than returning stateside.
His mom, Alicia Roen, informed cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, “I by no means was conscious he was into hacking. It was undoubtedly a shock to me once we discovered these items out.”
In a remark to Krebs web site, Mrs. Roen wrote, “I’m his mom and I’m not an open e book, I used to be requested common questions on my sons age and if he was a solider! That’s all I mentioned and Krebs already had this data. I by no means knew my son was concerned in any of this or concerned with others till I learn Krebs 1st article following my sons arrest, which was all new information to me! Do you actually suppose a baby would ever inform his dad and mom he was concerned in legal exercise?”
Working underneath the web alias “Kiberphant0m,” Wagenius is accused of collaborating in a number of high-profile knowledge breaches. He allegedly bought confidential cellphone information on on-line boards in November, claiming to have hacked 15 telecommunications companies, together with AT&T and Verizon.
In November, “Kiberphant0m” posted what have been presupposed to be AT&T name logs for President-elect Trump and Vice President Harris, although the authenticity of those information has not been confirmed.
The arrest follows an investigation right into a sequence of knowledge breaches affecting quite a few organizations. Wagenius’s alleged accomplices embrace Canadian nationwide Connor Riley Moucka, identified on-line as “Judische,” who was arrested in late October, and John Binns, presently detained in Turkey.
These people are suspected of involvement within the theft and extortion of knowledge from clients of the cloud service Snowflake, amongst different targets.
Extra on KrebsonSecurity:
Allison Nixon, chief analysis officer on the New York-based cybersecurity agency Unit 221B, helped monitor down Kiberphant0m’s actual life identification. Nixon was amongst a number of safety researchers who confronted harassment and particular threats of violence from Judische and his associates.
“Anonymously extorting the President and VP as a member of the army is a nasty concept, but it surely’s a good worse concept to harass individuals who focus on de-anonymizing cybercriminals,” Nixon informed KrebsOnSecurity. She mentioned the investigation into Kiberphant0m exhibits that legislation enforcement is getting higher and quicker at going after cybercriminals — particularly those that are literally residing in america.
“Between once we, and an nameless colleague, discovered his opsec mistake on November tenth to his final Telegram exercise on December 6, legislation enforcement set the pace document for the quickest turnaround time for an American federal cyber case that I’ve witnessed in my profession,” she mentioned.
Nixon requested to share a message for all the opposite Kiberphant0ms on the market who suppose they will’t be discovered and arrested.
“I do know that younger individuals concerned in cybercrime will learn these articles,” Nixon mentioned. “You must cease doing silly shit and get a lawyer. Legislation enforcement needs to place all of you in jail for a very long time.”
The indictment towards Wagenius was filed in Texas, however the case has been transferred to the U.S. District Court docket for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.
Learn the indictment:
