A former US Navy IT manager has been sentenced to over five years in prison for illegally hacking a database containing personally identifiable information (PII) and selling it on the dark web. Marquis Cooper, a chief petty officer in the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, opened an account with a company that maintains a PII database for millions of people. Despite access restrictions, Cooper falsely claimed the Navy required him to perform background checks on individuals. Alongside his wife, they stole the personal information of over 9000 individuals and made $160,000 in Bitcoin by selling it to fraudsters. The couple attempted to regain access to the data after their account was closed but were unsuccessful. Cooper has been sentenced to five years and five months in prison, while his wife is scheduled to be sentenced in November 2023.
Key Points:
– A former US Navy IT manager has been sentenced to over five years in prison for illegally hacking a database containing personally identifiable information (PII) and selling it on the dark web.
– Marquis Cooper falsely claimed the Navy required him to perform background checks on individuals to gain access to the PII database.
– Cooper and his wife stole the personal information of over 9000 individuals and made $160,000 in Bitcoin by selling it to fraudsters.
– They attempted to regain access to the data but were unsuccessful.
– Cooper has been sentenced to five years and five months in prison, while his wife is scheduled to be sentenced in November 2023.
