WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - An Assumption University student has agreed to plead guilty to hacking two U.S. based companies and extorting the companies for ransom, according to the Department of Justice.
Officials say Matthew Lane, 19, of Sterling, agreed to plead guilty to one count each of cyber extortion conspiracy, cyber extortion, unauthorized access to protected computers, and aggravated identity theft.
According to court filings, between April 2024 and May 2024, Lane and others extorted a $200,000 ransom payment from a telecommunications company and threatened to publicly share customer data that was stolen from the company’s computer network.
Officials say when the company asked if payment would end the threat, Lane allegedly responded, “We are the only ones with a copy of this data now. Stop this nonsense [or] your executives and employees will see the same fate . . . . Make the correct decision and pay the ransom. If you keep stalling, it will be leaked.”
Lane allegedly used login credentials to access the computer network of a second victim company, a software and cloud storage company serving school systems in the U.S., Canada, and other places. He is accused of causing personally identifying information (PII) of students and teachers stored in the network to be transferred to a computer server he leased in Ukraine.
The Department of Justice says the company and others received threats that the PII of over 60 million students and 10 million teachers would be leaked worldwide if the company did not pay a ransom of $2.85M Bitcoin.
Officials say a plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the court.
7NEWS went to Lane’s home and was told there was “no comment” from the person who answered the door.
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