Canadian malware spreader gets 2 years in prison

pppA Canadian court handed down a twoyear prison sentence to a man who admitted coordinating ransomware and malware attacks on private citizens businesses and government agenciesppMatthew Philbert 33 pleaded guilty in October of last year to charges of fraud and unauthorized access to computers after his arrest in 2021 in Canada Investigators found more than 1100 victims totalppAt the sentencing on Friday in the Ontario Court of Justice prosecutors noted that Philberts attacks sometimes led to thousands of dollars in fraud according to the CBC including one incident in which he stole more than 10000 from a familyrun businessppOther targets included three Canadian police departments and the Ronald McDonald House charity in Halifax Nova Scotia reported the Ottawa CitizenppBased in Ottawa Philbert was captured after an investigation involving Ontario police and the FBIs Anchorage Alaska bureau An Alaska federal court issued a separate indictment at the timeppThe US case alleged Philbert had attempted to cause damage without authorization to a protected computer owned by the State of Alaska in 2018 potentially affecting medical datappPhilbert typically sent phishing emails with documents that looked like resumes but actually loaded malware that allowed for full control of a victims computer reports saidppCanadian and US authorities have not identified his coconspiratorsppJoe WarminskyppJoe Warminsky is the news editor for Recorded Future News He has more than 25 years experience as an editor and writer in the Washington DC area Most recently he helped lead CyberScoop for more than five years Prior to that he was a digital editor at WAMU 885 the NPR affiliate in Washington and he spent more than a decade editing coverage of Congress for CQ Roll Callpp Copyright 2024 The Record from Recorded Future Newsp