Serial hacker sentenced to 20 months in prison for breaching 3,000 websites.

A 26-year-old man from Rotherham, UK, named Al-Tahery Al-Mashriky, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to multiple cybercrime charges earlier this year. Arrested in 2022 following information from U.S. law enforcement, Al-Mashriky was charged with stealing login details from millions of Facebook users and hacking various websites, including those belonging to the Yemeni government, an Israeli news outlet, and organisations in the U.S. and Canada. He claimed on an online forum to have hacked over 3,000 websites, although this figure was not substantiated by the investigation. Al-Mashriky was linked to extremist groups such as ‘Spider Team’ and ‘Yemen Cyber Army’, and forensic evidence revealed that he infiltrated significant government websites, targeted faith-based sites, and possessed stolen personal data from over 4 million Facebook users.

The National Cyber Crime Unit’s head, Paul Foster, stated that Al-Mashriky’s attacks caused considerable disruption to the targeted websites and their users, as he sought to promote the political and ideological agenda of the ‘Yemen Cyber Army’. In addition to hacking, he held stolen usernames and passwords for services like Netflix and PayPal. Initially facing ten charges under the Computer Misuse Act, Al-Mashriky ultimately pleaded guilty to nine counts, leading to his 20-month sentence handed down by Sheffield Crown Court. The case highlights the growing threat of cybercrime, with recent reports indicating that 46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% the previous year. 

Categories: Cybercrime, Hacking Activities, Data Breach 

Tags: Hacking, Websites, Prison, Cyber Crime, Facebook, Yemen, Extremist Groups, Data Theft, Vulnerabilities, Computer Misuse Act