Hacker admits to one of three charges, will be sentenced next year in March, faces up to 10 years in prison

Dec 10, 2015 22:33 GMT  ·  By

Timothy Justen French, a member of the infamous NullCrew hacking squad, has pleaded guilty to one charge of intentionally damaging a protected computer without authorization, and is now facing up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 / €228,000.

French, 21, from Morristown, Tennessee, was arrested by the FBI on June 11, 2014, at his family's home. Officials accused the teenager of participating in cyber-attacks against Bell Canada, Comcast, and the UK's Ministry of Defense, as part of the NullCrew hacking group.

Officials later brought three charges against him, two charges of intentionally damaging a protected computer without authorization, one of conspiracy.

Since Mr. French pleaded guilty to only one of the three, it looks like the prosecution reached a deal with Mr. French which might involve an exchange of information between the two parties. It is worth mentioning that an informant played a big part in Mr. French's own arrest.

French was never considered a top hacker inside NullCrew circles

French, also known online as "Orbit," "Orbit_g1rl," "c0rps3." " rootcrysis," and "crysis," was not the only NullCrew member arrested. Just two days later after his arrest, another unnamed teenager was also arrested in Canada. This hacker was known online as "NULL," "thebinkyp," "zer0pwn," and "Dominik."

Six days after French's arrest, the two apprehended hackers were ridiculed by their colleagues in a text posted on Pastebin. The two were called "script kiddies" because they ignored advice from older members to isolate their real-world monikers from their online hacking identities.

Apparently, the two used nicknames from their daily lives, utilized Skype for hacking-related conversations, and forgot to use VPN connections to hide their real location. According to FBI's statements released after their arrests, their investigators managed to trace down IPs used to steal data from Bell Canada to their home addresses.

French's sentence will be given out on March 9, 2016.