14 DAY TRIAL // In September 2013, 27-year-old Fidel Salinas of Donna, Texas, was arrested and accused of hacking into the systems of the Hidalgo County. Now, the man faces several additional charges related to hacking.
Initially, he was only accused of launching a cyberattack against Hidalgo County’s servers. Authorities said that the man had made over 14,000 attempts to breach the server hosting the country’s website. The site’s administrators were unable to access it for around half a day due to the attempts.
Salinas was tracked down based on an IP that led investigators to a house in Donna. There, agents were told by the owner that the man, who was his daughter’s boyfriend, had just moved in. The suspect was arrested and later released on bail. Law enforcement seized computers and other electronics at the time.
In October 2013, he was charged with attempting to gain unauthorized access to Hidalgo County servers, and causing damage of over $5,000 (€3,600). Actually, Hidalgo County determined that it had spent over $10,000 (€7,200) in responding to the cyberattack.
Now, Salinas has been charged with an additional 14 counts related to computer hacking. He’s believed to have attempted to breach into a number of other servers, including the ones of The Monitor newspaper and the La Joya Independent School District.
Salinas made an appearance before Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby on Thursday morning when he was informed of the new accusations. He continues to remain free on bond.
As far as the new charges are concerned, the attacks allegedly launched by Salinas took place between November 2011 and January 2012.
According to the FBI, Salinas is believed to have ties with the Anonymous movement because, at the time of the attacks, he entered the chat room used by the Anonymous hackers involved in the AntiSec operation.
He also posted the message “We do not forgive, we do not forget,” a motto often used by Anonymous hacktivists, on his Facebook page, the FBI said.
For the most serious charges brought against him, Salinas faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Salinas’ attorney, Alma Garza, said that her client would plead not guilty to the charges brought against him. Garza claims that the man has no connection with Anonymous, arguing that anyone can enter the chat rooms used by the hackers.
She believes that the prosecution has no real evidence against her client, highlighting the fact that the case has dragged on for two years.