US Army Soldier Pleads Guilty to AT&T and Verizon Hacks

Hacker Pleads Guilty to AT&T and Verizon Data Breaches

Cameron John Wagenius has admitted to guilt regarding the hacking of both AT&T and Verizon, resulting in the theft of a substantial amount of customer phone records. This admission is based on court documents made public on Wednesday.

Details of the Plea

Wagenius, formerly serving in the U.S. Army, entered a guilty plea on two charges related to the “unlawful transfer of confidential phone records information.” This transfer occurred through an online forum and a separate online communication platform.

According to a filing submitted by Wagenius’ legal counsel, he could face a maximum penalty of $250,000 in fines and up to 10 years in prison for each of the two counts against him.

Connection to Larger Data Breaches

Wagenius’ arrest and subsequent indictment occurred last year. U.S. prosecutors later confirmed in January a connection between the charges against Wagenius and the indictments of Connor Moucka and John Binns.

Moucka and Binns are accused by the U.S. government of orchestrating significant data breaches targeting Snowflake, a cloud computing services provider. These breaches were considered among the most impactful of 2024.

Overlapping Investigations

U.S. attorney Tessa Gorman recently informed the court that the breaches at both AT&T and Verizon stemmed from the same initial computer intrusion and extortion attempt.

Furthermore, Gorman stated that the breaches involved some of the same compromised victim data. She emphasized the shared evidence and legal processes, suggesting common legal and factual issues across the cases.

This effectively establishes Wagenius’ involvement in the broader Snowflake-related breaches.