U.K. Cyber Thug “PlugwalkJoe” Gets 5 Years in Prison

[Condobloke]

U.K. Cyber Thug “PlugwalkJoe” Gets 5 Years in Prison – Krebs on Security

Joseph James “PlugwalkJoe” O’Connor, a 24-year-old from the United Kingdom who earned his 15 minutes of fame by participating in the July 2020 hack of Twitter, has been sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison. That may seem like harsh punishment for a brief and very public cyber joy ride. But O’Connor also pleaded guilty in a separate investigation involving a years-long spree of cyberstalking and cryptocurrency theft enabled by “SIM swapping,” a crime wherein fraudsters trick a mobile provider into diverting a customer’s phone calls and text messages to a device they control.

 

[Deleted member 147986]

U.K. Cyber Thug “PlugwalkJoe” Gets 5 Years in Prison – Krebs on Security

Joseph James “PlugwalkJoe” O’Connor, a 24-year-old from the United Kingdom who earned his 15 minutes of fame by participating in the July 2020 hack of Twitter, has been sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison.

Why would a UK criminal end up in a US prison?

 

[Condobloke]

It says in the article that he "was extradited from Spain to the US to face charges etc...so he must be a US citizen.

 

[KGIII]

so he must be a US citizen.

Hmm... I have to say this without being political.

His citizenship doesn't much matter to the US justice system. If his crimes affected US citizens, and the justice department cares enough, they will extradite them to the US.

For a good example that folks know about, the US wants to extradite Assange and he's Australian.

The US has extradited many people for computer crimes. They don't care if you're a citizen or not.

He could be a US citizen. I do not know. I'm just pointing out that the US DOJ doesn't care. They don't even need to have set foot in the US, ever.

We also do this with high level drug dealers from south of the border. Even if they could be prosecuted in their home country, the US will happily extradite them and charge them for crimes committed here.

If this borders on too political, we can take it down. I'm avoiding things like opining on the matter and simply stating facts - but this could easily blow up into a political discussion and I don't want any part of that.

 

[Deleted member 147986]

It seems nonsensical to move over common criminals to the US for no other reason than to have them there.

Crime has moved over to the internet as the rest of society has. This one seems like a crime for sure, but not one that benefits in any way from moving the criminal to a different country.

 

[JasKinasis]

I’m guessing it’s because the victim of the hack - Twitter - is US based. So they extradited him to the US to face charges there.

He wouldn’t be the first. Gary McKinnon faced extradition from the U.K. for his hacks of NASA and US military systems. But his extradition was blocked by the then Home Secretary Theresa May.

However, hactivist Lauri Love was not so lucky and was extradited to the U.S. for an "anonymous" group hack they took part in, in protest against the indictment of Aaron Swartz.

Also, although O’Connor is a U.K. native; In this particular case, he was extradited from Spain, who are probably a bit more lax when it comes to extradition law.

 

[wizardfromoz]

...- but this could easily blow up into a political discussion and I don't want any part of that.

I'm watching, too but I agree with David @KGIII and at the same time will put a like or wow on the article Brian @Condobloke has presented.

OK, I opted for the amber fluid.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Not being political - the crux of the matter is about internal law and international legal convention.

...so he must be a US citizen.

has been responded to by @KGIII , but it goes beyond that.

War crimes and terrorism are two examples.

Nations may also have in place what are known as "reciprocal agreements".

Wizard