Worcester college student pleads guilty to cyber crimes | #cybercrime | #infosec

An Assumption University student has pleaded guilty to charges connected to extorting two companies for ransom after hacking into their computer networks.

Matthew Lane, 19, of Sterling, agreed to plead guilty to cyber extortion conspiracy, cyber extortion, unauthorized access to protected computers, and aggravated identity theft, according to a Tuesday statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Lane conspired with others to extort $200,000 in Bitcoin from a telecommunications company by threatening to publicly release previously stolen data, according to court documents. Between April and May 2024, Lane used an anonymous email to communicate with the company, which was skeptical about Lane’s demands.

After weeks of back-and-forth communication and a reduction in ransom, the company did not pay Lane.

Lane later, in September, targeted a software and cloud storage company that serves school systems by using an employee’s credentials to gain access to the company’s computer network, according to the court filing. 

Lane transferred names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses, and other information of students and faculty to his own computer server that he leased from a cloud storage provider from Ukraine, authorities said.

In December, the company received a ransom demand that threatened to “leak … worldwide” the personal information of more than 60 million students and 10 million teachers if the company did not send 30 Bitcoin, or around $2.85 million, to Lane, according to court documents.

A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled.

“Cyber extortion is a serious attack on our economy and on all of us,” U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in the statement. “The alleged ransoms that this defendant and others like him demand hurt victim companies and their innocent customers whose data the companies are entrusted to hold.”