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After failing to jailbreak friend, Washtenaw County hacker gets seven years in prison

27-year-old Konrads Voits, convicted of hacking Washtenaw County computer systems to try to get a friend out of prison early, now faces prison time himself. Volts has been sentenced to seven years and three months behind bars – and his laptop and phones have been taken away.

Voits last year tried to get a friend out of prison early by hacking government systems. The hacker used typical phishing schemes to steal login credentials from government employees and gain access to County systems, the Department of Justice (DoJ) reported in December.

Once in, Voits modified his friend’s release date. However, an employee discovered suspicious activity and alerted the IT department, and an investigation into the hack was commissioned. Soon after, all signs pointed to one Konrads Voits.

“The FBI is deeply committed to the aggressive pursuit of all cybercrime and in bringing to justice those who commit such acts”, said Timothy R. Slater, Special Agent in Charge, Detroit FBI.  “Today’s sentencing of Mr. Voits is an example that cybercriminals should no longer expect the Internet to provide them a veil of anonymity towards carrying out their illegal activities. The FBI will continue to vigorously investigate these high-tech crimes through strong law enforcement partnerships.”

Judge Robert H. Cleland gave Voits an 87-month sentence. As part of the sentencing, the DoJ says authorities confiscated several of Voits’ possessions, including a laptop, an integrated circuit component, several cellular phones, and several hundred dollars’ worth of Bitcoin.

Washtenaw County said the investigation into Voits’ hack cost them almost a quarter million dollars.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from HOTforSecurity authored by Filip Truta. Read the original post at: https://hotforsecurity.bitdefender.com/blog/after-failing-to-jailbreak-friend-washtenaw-county-hacker-gets-seven-years-in-prison-19839.html