Al-Tahery Al-Mashriky: Hacker who stole data from millions of Facebook accounts jailed for 20 months
A cyber criminal who hacked into the websites of organisations across the globe as well as millions of Facebook accounts has been jailed.
Al-Tahery Al-Mashriky gained access to the websites of organisations in America, Yemen and Israel as well as stealing log in details for millions of people on Facebook, Netflix and Paypal.
The 26-year-old was arrested by specialist cybercrime officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) in August 2022 following US inteligence around extremist hacker groups called ‘Spider Team’ and ‘Yemen Cyber Army’.
Investigators were able to link Al-Mashriky, of Rotherham, to the Yemen Cyber Army through social media and email accounts.
Analysis of his laptop showed he had access websites such as the Yemen Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Yemen Ministry of Security Media and an Israeli news outlet.
Once he had accessed the websites, he would create hidden webpages containing his online monkers and messaging that attempted to spread his religious and political ideology.
He claimed on one cybercrime forum that he had hacked into more than 3,000 websites in a three-month period in 2022 - and gained kudos in the hacking community for his prolific work.
Once his laptop was seized by investigators, they found he had the personal data of more than four million Facebook users and several documents containing usernames and passwords for services such as Netflix and Paypal.
Investigators found that in February 2022, he hacked into the website for Israeli Live News and accessed admin pages then downloaded the entire website. He had also hacked into two Yemeni government websites, deploying tools to scan for usernames and vulnerabilities.
Al-Mashriky was also found to have targeted faith websites in Canada and the USA as well as the website for the California State Water Board.
The NCA, working with other international law enforcement organisations, was able to obtain accounts from the victims of these intrusions, who gave detailed insights into the significant cost and inconvenience he had caused.
Al-Mashriky was due to stand trial at Sheffield Crown Court in March this year for 10 offences under the Computer Misuse Act.
However, on March 17 he pleaded guilty to nine offences and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment at the same court on Friday (Aug 15).
Deputy Director Paul Foster, head of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Al-Mashriky’s attacks crippled the websites targeted, causing significant disruption to their users and the organisations, just so that he could push the political and ideological views of the ‘Yemen Cyber Army’.
“He had also stolen personal data that could have enabled him to target and defraud millions of people.
“Cybercrime can often appear faceless, with the belief that perpetrators hide in the shadows and can avoid detection. However, as this investigation shows, the NCA has the technical capability to pursue and identify offenders like Al-Mashriky and bring them to justice.”