A Vermont man, Nicholas Moses, has received a probationary sentence after admitting to operating an international hacking scheme that stole personal information from tens of thousands of people. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Lanthier ordered Moses of Newport to serve four years of probation during a hearing last week in federal court in Rutland. Moses had earlier pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors to a federal criminal charge of conspiracy to commit fraud through the use of computers.
Moses, who went by the online alias “scrublord,” operated a computer malware program known as SmokeLoader out of servers in the Netherlands. According to court filings, he used the malware to “harvest” data from victims between January 2022 and May 2023. Court records stated that “Thousands of computers around the world have been infected” and “over 65,000 victims have had their personal information and passwords stolen” by Moses. He later admitted in an online chat session that he had sold the stolen credentials and passwords for just $1 to $5 each.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles, the prosecutor, highlighted the severe impact of Moses’s actions in a sentencing document. Cowles wrote that Moses’s victims, “many of whom likely remain oblivious to the theft of their private information, may deal with the consequences of his actions in the form of unexpected and unauthorized charges or stolen and compromised identities for years to come.” This emphasizes the long-term potential for identity theft and financial fraud stemming from the breach.
Conversely, Emily Kenyon, Moses’s defense attorney, argued in her sentencing memo that her client’s actions were partly rooted in a troubled childhood and significant mental health challenges. Kenyon noted that in the online community of hackers Moses associated with, he felt a sense of belonging, stating, “In this world, unlike in the rest of his life, he was capable of and able to form connections.” She added that his choices were ultimately fueled by his “addiction, mania and impulsiveness.”
While the charge against Moses carried a potential maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, both the prosecutor and the defense attorney supported the probationary sentence in their documents submitted to the judge. Their support largely stemmed from a recognition of Moses’s mental health issues and his willingness to quickly admit his guilt and cooperate with the authorities.
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