"Former Navy IT Manager Sentenced to Prison for Hacking, Selling PII"
A former US Navy IT manager was recently sentenced to five years and five months in prison for hacking into a database, stealing personally identifiable information (PII), and selling it on the dark web. The man, Marquis Hooper, 32, of Selma, California, who was a chief petty officer, opened under false pretenses an account at a private company operating a database containing the PII of millions of individuals. The Department of Justice (DoJ) noted that while the company only provides access to the database to businesses and government agencies that demonstrate a lawful need for PII, Hooper claimed that he needed the account to perform background checks on behalf of the Navy. Hooper then added to the account his wife and co-defendant, Natasha Chalk, a reservist in the Navy, and together they stole the PII of more than 9,000, which they then sold on the dark web for $160,000 in Bitcoin. The DoJ noted that at least some of the buyers used the PII to perform crimes, such as creating fake driver’s licenses to withdraw money from the victim’s account. Hooper opened the account in August 2018, but the company running the database closed it in December 2018 on suspected fraud. To regain access to the database, Hooper instructed an unindicted co-conspirator to open a new account at the company, offering to pay $2,500 for each month the account was opened. The co-conspirator attempted to open the account using the same pretenses as Hooper, but the company required confirmation from a Navy officer. The DoJ noted that Hooper provided the co-conspirator with a fake contract, a false driver’s license, and a forged letter allegedly from a Navy commanding officer, all created using the PII of an identity theft victim. The fake documents, allegedly identifying a Navy officer, were submitted to the company but did not open the new database account. Scheduled for sentencing on November 20, Natasha Chalk faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
SecurityWeek reports: "Former Navy IT Manager Sentenced to Prison for Hacking, Selling PII"