Syrian Electronic Army Members Indicted for Conspiracy

A federal grand jury has returned an 11-count indictment against two Syrian men, who have been charged with multiple counts of aggravated identity theft and their involvement in a conspiracy to commit computer hacking as members of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA).

The indictment alleges that Ahmad 'Umar Agha, who goes by the online alias "The Pro," and Firas Dardar ("The Shadow") conducted spearphishing attacks on the US government, military, international organizations, and several private-sector entities including the US Marine Corps, Executive Office of the President, NASA, The New York Times, USA Today, Time, Human Rights Watch, National Public Radio, and several other organizations and individuals.

When their operations were successful, Agha and Dardar allegedly used stolen credentials to deface websites, steal email, hijack social media accounts, and redirect domains to sites their conspiracy controlled or utilized.

The alleged offenses of conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, have maximum prison terms of five and 20 years, respectively. Charges for aggravated identity theft have a collective mandatory term of two years in prison, with a maximum of 18 years.

Read more details here.