Hacker Sentenced to 8 Years for Involvement in $3M (€2.3M) Scheme

35-year-old Joshuah Allen Witt is the last to be sent to prison for taking part in a $3 million (€2.3 million) scheme. He has been sentenced by a US District Court judge to almost 8 years in jail.

According to Seattle Times, Witt pleaded guilty to conspiracy, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft back in April.

One of his co-conspirators, John Earl Griffin, received the same sentence and a third man, Brad Eugene Lowe, aged 39, will spend six and a half years behind bars.

Judge Richard A. Jones will also order them to pay restitutions, but the exact amounts will be determined at a future hearing.

The crooks combined computer hacking with burglary to steal the large amount of money from around 50 businesses from the Seattle area.

If a few days ago we witnessed how car theft is combined with hacking, this example shows how cybercrime can go hand in hand with old-school burglary.

The burglars/cybercriminals would drive around in a car with a Wi-Fi receiver in search for unprotected wireless networks. The method, known as wardriving, can be highly effective against companies which fail to properly secure their infrastructures.

Besides breaching company systems via insecure Wi-Fi connections, they physically broke into firms and planted keyloggers on computers.

This way they didn’t have to worry about tricking employees into clicking on malicious links or opening malware-containing attachments.

Sophos experts offer some great advice for organizations that don’t want to end up being victims of such crimes.

“The first lesson is to make sure you get your WiFi security right - at work and at home,” Sophos’ Paul Ducklin said.

“The second lesson is to be doubly vigilant after a physical break-in. Don't just look for what's missing, but what might have been left behind,” he added.