Security News > 2021 > January > New Charges Derail COVID Release for Hacker Who Aided ISIS

The release was granted in part due to Ferizi's 2018 diagnosis of asthma, as well as a COVID outbreak at the facility where he was housed in 2020.

While Ferizi was in quarantine awaiting deportation the Justice Department unsealed new charges against him, saying he'd conspired from prison with associates on the outside to access stolen data and launder the bitcoin proceeds of his previous crimes.

Ferizi gave the purloined data to Junaid "Trick" Hussain, a 21-year-old hacker and recruiter for ISIS who published it in August 2015 as part of a directive that ISIS supporters kill the named U.S. military members and government employees.

The government says Ferizi and his associates made money by hacking PayPal and other financial accounts, and through pornography sites he allegedly set up mainly to steal personal and financial data from visitors.

The information about Ferizi's inmate friends came via a tip from another convict, who told the FBI that Ferizi was allegedly using his access to the prison's email system to share email and bitcoin account passwords with family members back home.

The Justice Department said subpoenas served on Ferizi's email accounts and interviews with his associates show Ferizi's brother in Kosovo used the information to "Liquidate the proceeds of Ferizi's previous criminal hacking activities."

News URL

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/01/new-charges-derail-covid-release-for-hacker-who-aided-isis/