FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 14, 2009
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA
CONTACT: CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLING
PHONE: (617)748-3356
E-MAIL: USAMA.MEDIA@USDOJ.GOV
JUVENILE COMPUTER HACKER SENTENCED FOR COMPUTER INTRUSION, INTERSTATE THREATS, AND WIRE FRAUD, STEMMING FROM HACKING, BOTNET, AND “SWATTING” ACTIVITIES
Boston, MA... A male juvenile, who has been widely known in the hacker underground by his online moniker, “DSHOCKER,” was sentenced today in federal court to 11 months in prison, to be served in a juvenile detention facility, for computer intrusion, interstate threats, and wire fraud, stemming from hacking, botnet, and “swatting” activities. In accordance with federal law, the juvenile was not publicly named.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division, announced that a 17-year-old male juvenile from Massachusetts was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Dennis F. Saylor, IV, to 11 months in prison, to be served in a juvenile detention facility, followed by two years of supervised release.
At the November 18, 2008 change of plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the government would have proven that, from 2005-2008, the defendant (1) hacked into multiple corporate computer systems and took command of thousands of other computers in a “botnet” (a network of infected computers), directing them to perform cyberattacks on victim computer servers; (2) placed hoax emergency telephone calls to elicit armed police responses from SWAT (“special weapons and tactics”) police teams and others, as well as reported phony bomb threats, and (3) made fraudulent credit card purchases with stolen credit cards. His “swatting” activities created a serious risk of physical harm to innocent victims, and the multiple bomb threats caused extensive disruptions to important public services. Furthermore, the defendant’s hacking activities were disruptive to major companies’ computer systems, and they wreaked havoc on tens of thousands of computers that were compromised.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam J. Bookbinder in Sullivan’s Economic Crimes Unit and Mona Sedky Spivack of the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
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