The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that two men accused of breaching a law enforcement portal as part of a doxing scheme have been sentenced to prison.
The men are 21-year-old Sagar Steven Singh, aka ‘Weep’, of Rhode Island, who was sentenced to 27 months of prison, and 27-year-old Nicholas Ceraolo, aka ‘Convict’, ’Anon’ and ‘Ominous’, of New York, who received a 25-month prison sentence.
They were sentenced for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft charges after they pleaded guilty one year ago. Charges against them were announced by the Department of Justice in March 2023.
Singh and Ceraolo were part of a cybercrime group called ‘Vile’, which ran a doxing website that leaked highly sensitive information on various individuals, asking victims to pay money to have their names removed.
Some victims were also threatened with physical harm unless they complied with their demands. In one example shared by authorities, the cybercriminals instructed the victim to sell their Instagram account and hand over the proceeds.
Vile obtained information on its targets from insiders and by tricking customer service representatives.
However, one important source of information — at the center of the charges brought against Singh and Ceraolo — was a law enforcement database containing detailed information on individuals, including intelligence reports, and narcotics and currency seizure records.
They gained access to the portal using the stolen credentials of a law enforcement officer. The database reportedly belonged to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
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