The U.S. Department of Justice said a federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced 32-year-old Syrian national Ahmed Omar Agha to 42 months in prison. He was convicted of taking part in cyberattacks on American and allied media outlets, companies, organizations and governments that prosecutors said were carried out on behalf of the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the department, Agha, known by the handle TH3 Pro, took part in attacks on around 47 organizations over more than a decade, from August 2011 to January 2024, to spread propaganda in support of the former Syrian government. He was a member of the Syrian Electronic Army, which was allegedly led by people close to Assad. U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said the hacker used his skills to obstruct coverage of the regime’s crimes, intimidate the opposition and encourage U.S. military personnel to disobey orders.
Among the most high-profile incidents was the 2013 hacking of a U.S. news agency’s Twitter account (now X) and a false post claiming that President Barack Obama had been injured in two explosions at the White House. The U.S. Department of Justice said the incident caused a sharp drop in the stock market and temporarily wiped $136 billion off the value of stocks in the Dow Jones index. Firas Dardar, who remains at large, and Peter Romar, who was extradited to the United States and pleaded guilty to cybercrimes in September 2016, were also charged in the case.
Full version: America jails Syrian over cyberhacking on behalf of Assad regime