US soldier gets 70 months in prison for extorting 10 tech, telecom firms
A former US Army soldier received 70 months for hacking and extorting at least 10 tech and telecom firms.
Former U.S. Army soldier Cameron John Wagenius, 21, also known as kiberphant0m, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $294,978 in restitution. While on active duty, he and accomplices used an SSH brute-force tool and Telegram to steal network credentials, then extorted at least 10 U.S. technology and telecommunications companies, including AT&T and Verizon, between April 2023 and December 2024. They threatened to leak data on BreachForums and XSS.is, attempted to extort at least $1 million, sold stolen data, and used it for SIM-swapping. Accomplices Connor Riley Moucka and John Erin Binns were linked to Snowflake-related thefts affecting customers of AT&T, Ticketmaster, Santander, and other organizations.