A 24-year-old man from Giesbeek, Gelderland, has been sentenced to two years in prison, one year of which is suspended, because of his role in the sale of billions of leaked login details.
According to the court, the man acted for more than three years, together with another suspect, in about 12 billion login details via the site We Leak Info. The data, including email addresses and passwords, came from more than ten thousand data leaks.
The website sold subscriptions that allowed users to browse through the billions of data stolen. Subscriptions start at a price of $ 2, suggested the US Federal FBI investigation. The money that the suspects earned was laundered by channeling it to bank accounts and payment accounts. The website was taken offline in January 2020 .
Hacking
The man claimed the site was just to warn people that their credentials were online. The court does not believe this. “The way in which the website was marketed, among other things, shows that the suspect and his co-perpetrator sold the login details with the aim of committing computer crimes. offered a service on the website that could crack encrypted passwords. ” From chats between the suspects, the court also deduces that the two “tried to cover themselves with lies”.
In order to prevent him from committing wrong again in the future, the court finds a ‘substantial suspended prison sentence’ necessary.
Earned 110 thousand euros
The 24-year-old man also has to pay the 110,000 euros he earned with the site to the State. His lawyer says he is appealing.
A second suspect was arrested in Northern Ireland early last year. A third suspect is still on the run.
Websites such as We Leak Info have long been criticized for selling stolen data. Dutch people who buy this data have been guilty of fencing since the introduction of the Computer Crime Act III in 2019.