Syrian Hacker Gets Prison Time in US After Over a Decade on the Run
A Syrian man tied to the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has received a 42-month prison sentence in the US, more than 12 years after he was first charged.
Ahmad Umar Agha, who used the online handle Th3Pr0, was sentenced on Thursday by a federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia. According to the Justice Department, he evaded US authorities for more than a decade.
Prosecutors say the hacking conspiracy Agha took part in was directed by figures close to Bashar al-Assad, among them the head of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate. The scheme began as early as August 2011 and continued until January 2024.
The DOJ described Agha as a central figure in the operation. He compromised around 47 targets, a mix of Western news outlets, companies, NGOs, and government bodies in the US and allied countries.
Among the intrusions highlighted by prosecutors was the 2013 takeoverof...
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