14 DAY TRIAL // Jonathan Cunningham, 29, and Alyson Cunningham, 26, from Pittsburgh, have been sentenced to 3 years probation for hacking into the systems of a law firm. Each of them will also have to pay restitution and serve 300 hours community service.
In addition, their computer activities will be monitored and they must notify any employer of their conviction.
What’s interesting about this case is that the couple and their accomplice, Matthew West, pretended to be members of the Anonymous movement. But let’s take a look at the story from the beginning.
Back in November 28, 2011, Alyson Cunningham was fired from a Pittsburgh law firm, referred to as “VG” in court documents. After being fired, she and her husband contacted West and asked him to hack into the company’s systems.
According to US authorities, Alyson had provided a password to West that allowed him to access VG’s servers. Once he broke in, West installed spyware on the company’s networks. He used a VPN proxy in Germany to hide his identity.
One day later, on November 29, West sent an email to a VG partner claiming to be part of Anonymous. He used the [email protected] email address to notify the company that its systems had been hacked into.
“We are not interested in ruining your business, but routinely checking that business is fair and just. Our motive is to solely capture and record 100% of Pittsburgh business records and operations and protect it or use it against you as we could if Anonymous had a reason and needed to,” the email read.
On the night when the breach occurred, the Cunninghams communicated with West on Skype, providing him with instructions and suggestions on what to do.
VG highlighted the fact that neither of the three had authorization to access their computer servers.