Author: AJ Vicens
DETROIT (Reuters): Federal authorities have unveiled an indictment accusing a U.S. Army soldier of selling and attempting to sell stolen confidential phone records.
Cameron John Wagenius was arrested on December 20 and charged on the Western District of Texas Courthouse in Waco with two counts of unlawfully transmitting confidential telephone information, according to court records made public on Monday, which didn’t specify his rank or place of residence. was stationed.
“We know about the arrest of a Fort Cavazos soldier,” Colonel Kamil Sztalkoper, spokesman for the III Armored Corps, told Reuters in an e-mail. “III Armored Corps will continue to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies as appropriate.” Fort Cavazos, formerly Fort Hood, is positioned in Texas.
Sztalkoper referred further questions to the Army Criminal Investigations Division, which told Reuters it was cooperating with federal law enforcement and wouldn’t release additional information.
Court records didn’t provide details of the costs, but cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs said on his website that Wagenius used the web pseudonym “Kiberphant0m” and shared claims about multiple intrusions, including recordings of conversations allegedly related to Vice President Kamala Harris and president – elect Donald Trump. Krebs said Wagenius was 20 years old, but neither court nor military records confirmed that.
Wagenius’ attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Records show that a Texas judge ordered Wagenius sent to Seattle, where federal prosecutors handling the case are based.
The office is prosecuting Connor Moucka and John Binns, who’re charged with a number of crimes relating to a number of data breaches involving “billions of confidential customer service records”, non-content call and text message records, banking and financial information, payroll data, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, social security numbers and other personal information, according to the Oct. 10 indictment.
Moucka, 25, was arrested on October 30 at his home in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and faces extradition to the United States. The Canadian Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to questions on Moucka’s status. Binns is currently in prison on charges related to a separate burglary in Turkey, where he lived.
Investigators say Moucka and Binns are likely involved in data theft and extortion of dozens of corporations which are clients of Snowflake (NYSE:), an information storage and processing company.
Allison Nixon, director of research at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, told Reuters that she and an anonymous colleague identified Wagenius’ true identity after Moucka’s hacking group “threatened us for no reason.” Wagenius was a member of this group, she added.
“Law enforcement response time was the fastest I have seen in my entire career,” Nixon said. “It was amazing to watch.”
Neither the Justice Department nor the FBI immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
(Reporting by AJ Vicens; Editing by David Gregorio and Bill Berkrot)
