Ahmad Umar Agha, a hacker associated with the Syrian Electronic Army, received a prison sentence of 42 months for orchestrating cyber attacks against approximately 50 Western targets. The group operated in coordination with advisers close to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and carried out computer intrusions since at least 2011 to support the regime. Among their notable attacks was a 2013 incident in which they compromised the Associated Press’s Twitter account and posted a false report about an explosion at the White House that temporarily caused a $136 billion decline in stock market value.
Federal authorities initially charged Agha in 2014, and he was added to the FBI’s Cyber’s Most Wanted list in 2016 with a $100,000 reward offer. A federal grand jury indicted him in 2018, and he was taken into U.S. custody last year. In other attacks attributed to Agha, he accessed a server hosting the Marine Corps’ recruiting website and redirected visitors to propaganda urging military personnel to desert. According to the Justice Department, Agha’s hacking targeted media outlets, non-profit organizations, and other entities aligned with the United States, while gathering intelligence for Assad’s government.
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