BreachForums hacking forum admin sentenced to 20 years supervised release

News
By Sead Fadilpašić
published

Although he probably won't see the inside of a jail cell

Representational image of a hacker
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The owner and administrator of BreachForums, an infamous underground forum where hackers shared stolen data, malware, and other tools, has received his sentence..

In the Eastern District of Virginia, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, alias Pompompurin was sentenced to time served, plus 20 years of supervised release, BleepingComputer reports.

The first two years of his sentencing, Fitzpatrick will serve in home arrest, with a GPS locator, it was added. He will also undergo mental health treatment. Furthermore, he is banned from the internet for a year, and will have monitoring software installed on his devices. 

Concierge of cybercrime

"The defendant shall not have any access to the internet within the first year of his supervised release," it was said during sentencing. "After that year the defendant shall not sell or offer to sell any item on the internet for another person or entity without pre-approval and authorization from the court or probation officer. This includes, but is not limited to, selling items on internet auction sites."

Fitzpatrick will also have to pay restitution for the losses incurred upon the victims, but the amount will be determined later, it was concluded. In other words, no more jail time for Pompompurin. 

He was arrested in March last year, and was allegedly released on a $300,000 bond paid by his parents, Bitdefender reported at the time. 

He was charged for his involvement in the theft and sale of sensitive information belonging to "millions of U.S. citizens and hundreds of U.S. and foreign companies, organizations, and government agencies". During the trial, Pompompurin pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Access Device Fraud, two counts of Solicitation for the Purpose of Offering Access, and three counts of Possession of Child Pornography.

U.S. prosecutors sought roughly 15 years of prison time for his crimes.

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Sead Fadilpašić

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.