FBI busts hacker who caused 4 billion in losses with disabled VPN

Nicholas Sharp, a senior developer at Ubiquiti, a technology company, decided to pose as a hacker to steal from his employer. However, everything did not go as planned.

To carry out his plan, Sharp used his authorized access to the company’s network and stole several gigabytes of files containing confidential information. After the pseudo-hacker obtained the necessary data, he began blackmailing the management. The developer demanded a ransom of 50 BTC in exchange for the return of the information and access keys. When Ubiquiti refused to meet the fraudster’s demands, Sharp released some data.

As law enforcement officers found out, the developer used the Surfshark VPN service and deliberately damaged Ubiquiti’s computer systems in an attempt to hide his unauthorized activities. After the VPN malfunctioned, Nicholas Sharp’s IP address was exposed. At first, the programmer denied any involvement in the data theft, and then claimed that «someone else used his account.»

After talking to the FBI, Sharpe anonymously contacted journalist Brian Krebs, claiming that the hacker had gained administrative access to Ubiquiti’s accounts and accused the company’s lawyers of trying to cover up the leak. The journalist believed the anonymous source and published a series of «exposé» articles that caused Ubiquiti’s shares to drop by about 20% in a few days, and the company lost more than $ 4 billion.

At the time of writing, Nicholas Sharp has pleaded guilty and faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison for intentionally damaging a protected computer, fraud, and perjury. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 10, 2023.