Hacker “AlfabetoVirtual” Sentenced To Prison For Hacking Websites Of The Combating Terrorism Center At West Point And The New York City Comptroller
summary
Billy Ribeiro Anderson, aka 'AlfabetoVirtual,' was sentenced to three months in prison for hacking and defacing over 11,000 government and business websites, including West Point's Combating Terrorism Center and NYC Comptroller's site, by exploiting vulnerabilities to display political messages, and was ordered to pay restitution, serve three years of supervised release, and complete 200 hours of community service.
paragraph
Billy Ribeiro Anderson, operating under the pseudonym 'AlfabetoVirtual,' pled guilty to two felony counts of computer fraud for unauthorized access and defacement of websites, including those of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point and the New York City Comptroller. He compromised more than 11,000 government and business sites worldwide between 2015 and 2018 by exploiting known security vulnerabilities, replacing content with messages like 'Hacked by AlfabetoVirtual' and '#FREEPALESTINE'. In addition to a three-month prison term, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release, 200 hours of community service, and ordered to pay restitution to victims.
narrative
Billy Ribeiro Anderson, known online as 'AlfabetoVirtual,' was sentenced to three months in federal prison for hacking and defacing over 11,000 government and business websites between 2015 and March 2018. He specifically targeted the websites of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point and the New York City Comptroller, replacing their content with messages such as 'Hacked by AlfabetoVirtual' and '#FREEPALESTINE' by exploiting known vulnerabilities, including outdated plugins and cross-site scripting flaws. Anderson pled guilty on October 2, 2018, to two felony counts of computer fraud before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain. In addition to his prison term, he received three years of supervised release, was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service, and must pay restitution to victims of his cyber intrusions. The investigation, led by the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Brazilian Federal Police Cyber Crime Unit, revealed his global scale of operations under his pseudonym. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman emphasized that the case demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to prosecuting cyber intrusions targeting critical infrastructure. Anderson, 42, of Torrance, California, was prosecuted by the Southern District of New York’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
Classified cyber-fraud(confidence 100%). No EDGAR filing fingerprint (criminal/DOJ-side scheme). detection rule →
Parties
billy ribeiro andersonGeoffrey S. Bermanjudge laura taylor swainnyc comptroller website
Keywords
combating terrorismterrorism centerwest pointwebsitealfabetovirtualwebsitesandersonnewcomptrollercenter westcity comptrollercombatingterrorismcenterwest
Extracted insights
Entities 4
- person billy ribeiro anderson
- person Geoffrey S. Berman
- person judge laura taylor swain
- person nyc comptroller website
Triples 12
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson sentenced to three months in prison
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson hacked Combating Terrorism Center At West Point website
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson hacked New York City Comptroller website
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson pled guilty to two felony counts of computer fraud
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson pled guilty on October 2, 2018
- Judge Laura Taylor Swain imposed sentence
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson defaced more than 11,000 military, government, and business websites
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson used pseudonym AlfabetoVirtual
- Geoffrey S. Berman announced sentencing of Billy Ribeiro Anderson
- NYC Comptroller website defaced on July 10, 2015
- Combating Terrorism Center At West Point website defaced on October 4, 2016
- Billy Ribeiro Anderson obtained unauthorized access from 2015 through March 13, 2018
Extracted body text (4,753c)
Press Release Hacker “AlfabetoVirtual” Sentenced To Prison For Hacking Websites Of The Combating Terrorism Center At West Point And The New York City Comptroller Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that BILLY RIBEIRO ANDERSON, a/k/a “Anderson Albuquerque,” a/k/a “AlfabetoVirtual,” was sentenced today to three months in prison for obtaining unauthorized access to and committing defacements of the websites for the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York (“West Point”), and the Office of the New York City Comptroller (the “NYC Comptroller”). ANDERSON pled guilty on October 2, 2018, to two felony counts of computer fraud before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who also imposed today’s sentence. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Billy Anderson was a sophisticated hacker who compromised and defaced the websites of the New York City Comptroller, West Point, and more than 11,000 other military, government, and business websites around the world under his online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual.” Anderson will now serve time in federal prison under his true name. This case demonstrates that those who seek to commit cyber intrusions of government websites will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” According to the Indictment and other public court filings and proceedings: Website defacements are acts of computer intrusion during which a hacker obtains unauthorized access to computers hosting Internet websites and then replaces the publicly available contents of the website with content generated by the hacker, thereby “defacing” the website. Hackers frequently claim responsibility for defacements by listing their online pseudonyms as part of the defaced content. From in or about 2015 through at least March 13, 2018, ANDERSON took responsibility for obtaining unauthorized access to, and committing more than 11,000 defacements of, various U.S. military, government, and business websites around the world under the online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual,” including websites for the NYC Comptroller and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. On or about July 10, 2015, a website owned by the NYC Comptroller was defaced, and ANDERSON, using the online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual,” claimed responsibility for the intrusion and defacement. The contents of the NYC Comptroller website were modified to display the text “Hacked by AlfabetoVirtual,” “#FREEPALESTINE” and “#FREEGAZA.” The defacement was performed by exploiting security vulnerabilities associated with the version of a plugin being used on the website. On or about October 4, 2016, a website for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point was defaced, and ANDERSON, using the online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual,” claimed responsibility for the intrusion and defacement. The content of the Combating Terrorism Center website was modified to display the text “Hacked by AlfabetoVirtual.” The defacement was performed by an unauthorized administrative account that exploited a known cross-site script vulnerability, thereby enabling ANDERSON to bypass access controls and target an internal Combating Terrorism Center website address. * * * In addition to the prison term, ANDERSON, 42, of Torrance, California, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, 200 hours of community service, and ordered to pay restitution to victims of his offense. Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Berman also thanked the Computer Crime Investigative Unit of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Brazilian Federal Police Cyber Crime Unit for their assistance with the investigation. This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Sagar K. Ravi is in charge of the prosecution. Updated February 26, 2019 Topic Cybercrime Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 19-056
OCR text (4,753c · plain-text · 99% conf)
Press Release Hacker “AlfabetoVirtual” Sentenced To Prison For Hacking Websites Of The Combating Terrorism Center At West Point And The New York City Comptroller Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that BILLY RIBEIRO ANDERSON, a/k/a “Anderson Albuquerque,” a/k/a “AlfabetoVirtual,” was sentenced today to three months in prison for obtaining unauthorized access to and committing defacements of the websites for the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York (“West Point”), and the Office of the New York City Comptroller (the “NYC Comptroller”). ANDERSON pled guilty on October 2, 2018, to two felony counts of computer fraud before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who also imposed today’s sentence. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Billy Anderson was a sophisticated hacker who compromised and defaced the websites of the New York City Comptroller, West Point, and more than 11,000 other military, government, and business websites around the world under his online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual.” Anderson will now serve time in federal prison under his true name. This case demonstrates that those who seek to commit cyber intrusions of government websites will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” According to the Indictment and other public court filings and proceedings: Website defacements are acts of computer intrusion during which a hacker obtains unauthorized access to computers hosting Internet websites and then replaces the publicly available contents of the website with content generated by the hacker, thereby “defacing” the website. Hackers frequently claim responsibility for defacements by listing their online pseudonyms as part of the defaced content. From in or about 2015 through at least March 13, 2018, ANDERSON took responsibility for obtaining unauthorized access to, and committing more than 11,000 defacements of, various U.S. military, government, and business websites around the world under the online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual,” including websites for the NYC Comptroller and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. On or about July 10, 2015, a website owned by the NYC Comptroller was defaced, and ANDERSON, using the online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual,” claimed responsibility for the intrusion and defacement. The contents of the NYC Comptroller website were modified to display the text “Hacked by AlfabetoVirtual,” “#FREEPALESTINE” and “#FREEGAZA.” The defacement was performed by exploiting security vulnerabilities associated with the version of a plugin being used on the website. On or about October 4, 2016, a website for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point was defaced, and ANDERSON, using the online pseudonym “AlfabetoVirtual,” claimed responsibility for the intrusion and defacement. The content of the Combating Terrorism Center website was modified to display the text “Hacked by AlfabetoVirtual.” The defacement was performed by an unauthorized administrative account that exploited a known cross-site script vulnerability, thereby enabling ANDERSON to bypass access controls and target an internal Combating Terrorism Center website address. * * * In addition to the prison term, ANDERSON, 42, of Torrance, California, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, 200 hours of community service, and ordered to pay restitution to victims of his offense. Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Berman also thanked the Computer Crime Investigative Unit of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Brazilian Federal Police Cyber Crime Unit for their assistance with the investigation. This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Sagar K. Ravi is in charge of the prosecution. Updated February 26, 2019 Topic Cybercrime Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 19-056