Syrian hacker 'Th3Pr0' sentenced to 42 months for Assad-regime hacking of ~47 Western targets, incl. 2013 fake White House tweet
A Syrian national, Ahmad Umar Agha (alias Th3Pr0), was sentenced to 42 months in prison by a federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, the US Department of Justice announced. He played a central role in a hacking conspiracy led by members of former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's inner circle, including the commander of the General Intelligence Directorate. The conspiracy ran from August 2011 to January 2024, and Agha was a fugitive for over a decade. He compromised about 47 Western media outlets, businesses, NGOs and US and allied government entities to spread regime propaganda.
Detalhes técnicos
- On April 23, 2013, Agha used access to a news agency's Twitter account to post a false report of White House explosions injuring President Obama, causing a temporary $136 billion drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- He breached the company hosting the US Marine Corps recruitment website and redirected visitors to a server showing a message urging Marines to refuse orders; about 3,500 potential visitors saw it.
- He twice tried to take over the White House social media page by stealing email credentials of White House staff; one attempt succeeded, but the follow-on attempt to trick other staffers into handing over the social accounts failed.
- Victim costs: a content and advertising supplier lost about $35,000 per day for about six months; a global NGO spent about $250,000 on monitoring products and retrained more than 800 staff, with total losses of $480,000.
- Co-conspirator Firas Dardar was charged in 2014, indicted in 2018, and remains a fugitive. Peter Romar was extradited from Germany and pleaded guilty in September 2016.
Linha do tempo
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Syrian hacker 'Th3Pr0' sentenced to 42 months for Assad-regime hacking of ~47 Western targets, incl. 2013 fake White House tweet
ler a análise desta fonte ocultar
A Syrian national, Ahmad Umar Agha (alias Th3Pr0), was sentenced to 42 months in prison by a federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, the US Department of Justice announced. He played a central role in a hacking conspiracy led by members of former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's inner circle, including the commander of the General Intelligence Directorate. The conspiracy ran from August 2011 to January 2024, and Agha was a fugitive for over a decade. He compromised about 47 Western media outlets, businesses, NGOs and US and allied government entities to spread regime propaganda.
Technical Details
- On April 23, 2013, Agha used access to a news agency's Twitter account to post a false report of White House explosions injuring President Obama, causing a temporary $136 billion drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- He breached the company hosting the US Marine Corps recruitment website and redirected visitors to a server showing a message urging Marines to refuse orders; about 3,500 potential visitors saw it.
- He twice tried to take over the White House social media page by stealing email credentials of White House staff; one attempt succeeded, but the follow-on attempt to trick other staffers into handing over the social accounts failed.
- Victim costs: a content and advertising supplier lost about $35,000 per day for about six months; a global NGO spent about $250,000 on monitoring products and retrained more than 800 staff, with total losses of $480,000.
- Co-conspirator Firas Dardar was charged in 2014, indicted in 2018, and remains a fugitive. Peter Romar was extradited from Germany and pleaded guilty in September 2016.