Why bother asking people to send nudes when you can hack their accounts? This is what a former Yahoo software engineer seemingly thought after he breached over 6,000 Yahoo accounts in search of racy pics. What he got instead is a charge for computer intrusion in a US federal court.
On September 30, Reyes Daniel Ruiz plead guilty to hacking into thousands of accounts while still employed at the Verizon-owned company, CyberScoop reports. The 34-year-old admitted to specifically targeting the accounts of young women, both friends and colleagues, hoping to get a hold of explicit images and videos.
To this end, Ruiz abused various internal Yahoo systems in order to gain access to iCloud, Facebook, Gmail, Dropbox, and other services where users tend to store private images.
The software engineer, who left the company in 2018, further admitted to destroying the device where he stored stolen images once Yahoo had initiated an investigation into the matter.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
For his crime, Ruiz will be charged with one count of computer intrusion. Under a plea agreement in a San Jose federal court, the charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution.
Yahoo has lost all credibility
The news puts yet another dent in Yahoo’s already badly wounded reputation.
Back in 2016, the Verizon subsidiary revealed it had suffered a massive breach in 2013, which affected over 3 billion people — pretty much all of its users.
Anyone seeking more details about the Ruiz case can take a gander at the indictment here.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.