On Nov. 16, a cybersecurity contractor admitted guilt for unlawfully accessing the computer systems of Lawrenceville, Ga.-based Gwinnett Medical Center back in 2018, Law360 reported.
Vikas Singla, who was the COO of a metro Atlanta network security firm specializing in healthcare, pleaded guilty to orchestrating a cyberattack on Gwinnett, according to the publication.
During the attack, phone lines were disrupted, as well as the network printer service.
Mr. Singla also was able to illicitly obtain data from a digitizing device from the hospital during the attack.
The government said the crime cost Gwinnett Medical Center $800,000 and that the cyberattack was, in part, carried out with the intention of securing financial benefits for Mr. Singla’s company.
Mr. Singla was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 8, 2021.
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Troy Richard Jenkins, age 32, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to one count of possession of child pornography, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
During the plea hearing held June 27, 2023, Jenkins admitted to knowingly possessing and accessing with the intent to view more than 600 visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors. Some of the pornographic images depicted children under the age of 12. Jenkins also admitted to distributing child pornography to others.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”
The charges arose from an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations.
The Honorable Gerald L. Jackson, United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. At the conclusion of the plea hearing, Jenkins was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending sentencing.
Assistant United States Attorney Anthony C. Marek represented the United States.
https://spinsafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/doj-seal-fb.jpg200200SecureTechhttps://spinsafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SS-Logo.svgSecureTech2023-07-16 23:00:062023-07-16 23:00:06Eastern District of Oklahoma | Muskogee Resident Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Child Pornography
Kevin Swanson, 35, from Sioux City, Iowa, entered a guilty plea in federal court on May 4, 2023, to possession of child pornography.
In a plea agreement, Swanson admitted that between August 2020, and August 2021, he used an Internet-based, peer-to-peer (P2P) network to knowingly receive visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including depictions involving prepubescent minors who had not reached the age of 12. Swanson had over 1,168 images and 4 video files of child exploitation materials.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set for a later date after a presentence report is prepared. Swanson was taken into custody by the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Swanson faces a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a fine of not more than $250,000, a mandatory special assessment of $100 and a term of supervised release of at least 5 years to life.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Sioux City Police Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.
https://spinsafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/doj-seal-fb.jpg200200SecureTechhttps://spinsafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SS-Logo.svgSecureTech2023-06-30 21:30:102023-06-30 21:30:10Northern District of Iowa | Iowa Air National Guardsman Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography
Joseph James O’Connor was arrested in Spain in 2021
A British national extradited to the US last month has pleaded guilty in New York to a role in one of the biggest hacks in social media history.
The July 2020 Twitter hack affected over 130 accounts including those of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Joseph James O’Connor, 23, known as PlugwalkJoe, pleaded guilty to hacking charges carrying a total maximum sentence of over 70 years in prison.
The hacking was part of a large-scale Bitcoin scam.
O’Connor, who was extradited from Spain, hijacked numerous Twitter accounts and sent out tweets asking followers to send Bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money.
O’Connor was charged alongside three other men over the scam. US teenager Graham Ivan Clark pleaded guilty in 2021. Nima Fazeli of Orlando, Florida, and Mason Sheppard, of Bognor Regis in the UK, were charged with federal crimes.
US Assistant Attorney-General Kenneth Polite Jr described in a statement O’Connor’s actions as “flagrant and malicious”, saying he had “harassed, threatened and extorted his victims, causing substantial emotional harm”.
“Like many criminal actors, O’Connor tried to stay anonymous by using a computer to hide behind stealth accounts and aliases from outside the United States.
“But this plea shows that our investigators and prosecutors will identify, locate, and bring to justice such criminals to ensure they face the consequences for their crimes.”
In 2020, an estimated 350 million Twitter users saw suspicious tweets from official accounts of the platform’s biggest users. Thousands fell for a scam, trusting that a crypto giveaway was real.
Cyber experts agreed that the consequences of the Twitter hack could have been far worse if O’Connor and other hackers had more sophisticated plans than a get-rich-quick scheme.
Disinformation could have been spread to affect political discourse and markets could have been moved by well-worded fake business announcements, for example.
https://spinsafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/5644f7dc3d49a033b51b353fc7be6400.jpeg549976SecureTechhttps://spinsafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SS-Logo.svgSecureTech2023-05-10 02:00:082023-05-10 02:00:08Briton pleads guilty in US to 2020 Twitter hack
