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Jennifer Lawrence’s hacker receives 9-month sentence

The man who breached the private accounts of 300 users has received a nine month prison sentence and has been ordered to pay $5 700 as restitution.

Edward Majerczyk from Chicago was accused of using a phishing scheme to gain access into 300 online accounts which include the accounts of 30 celebrities.

As part of his plea deal it was revealed that Majerczyk sent emails to targets posing as an internet service provider and gleaned usernames and passwords from his victims.

The black-hat hacker then used this information to access his victim’s accounts. Actress Jennifer Lawrence fell prey to Majerczyk’s attack and had private information including nude photos and videos stolen according to the Associated Press.

Majerczyk pleaded guilty to one charge of unauthorised access to a protected computer to obtain information in a Los Angeles court last year. He then signed a plea agreement so that his case would be transferred to Chicago. Majerczyk was not charged with selling or uploading the information online.

Both the prosecution and defence agreed that the hacker should receive a nine month prison sentence.

By all accounts Majercyzk got off lightly as the charge he faced carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The hacker’s lawyer Thomas Needham, said in a court filing that his client suffered from depression and attempted to find solace in chat rooms and pornography websites, “in an attempt to fill some of the voids and disappointment he was feeling in his life.”

[Image – CC BY 2.0 Krystian Olszanski]

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