Texas man sentenced to 57 months for the hacking of a major tech firm in New York

A 31-year-old man from Dallas, Texas, was sentenced last week to 57 months in prison for crimes related to the hacking of a major tech firm in New York.

Tyler C. King (31), from Dallas, Texas, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for crimes related to the hacking of an unnamed major tech company based in New York.

In November, King was accused and convicted of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft, and in June he also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges for having provided fake evidence during his trial.

According to the investigators, the man gained access to the technology firm in 2015 with an accomplice, Ashley St. Andria, who was an employee of the company.

Once gained access to the company’s network, the duo created admin accounts to access to internal resources, including emails of senior executives, personnel files, financial documents, and other proprietary information.

After the IT staff at the company detected the intrusion, it disabled the fraudulent admin accounts, but King and St. Andria once again gained access to its networks and stole business records.

“While on the company’s network, King and St. Andria created unauthorized administrator accounts that gave them access to proprietary company information, including real-time access to the emails of senior company executives, personnel files, and financial records.” reads the press release published by the DoJ.

“In response to the company shutting down the fake administrator accounts, King regained access to the network with the assistance of St. Andria, stole proprietary business records, and – through a series of sophisticated steps, including the use of password-cracking programs – bypassed the company’s security measures.  In doing so, King illegally used the credentials of two company employees based overseas.  The jury convicted King of conspiring to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.”

King was also condemned to 2 years of supervised release, a fine of $15,000 and over $21,000 in restitution.

“Tyler King hacked into a major technology company, damaged its systems, stole its data, and laughed about it, all from the comfort of his sofa in Texas. He will now serve 57 months in federal prison,” stated U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith. “Those interested in hiding behind their keyboards to steal information and damage property should take today’s sentence as a stark reminder that computer hacking is a serious business with serious consequences. I thank the FBI for its exceptional work in bringing King to justice.”

King’s accomplice, Ashley St. Andria (31) of Irving, Texas, pled guilty to computer fraud on August 15, 2018 and was sentenced to time served, and 2 years of supervised release, in March 2020.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, D-Link)