Serial Hacker Behind High-Profile Website Defacements Jailed

A cybercriminal who infiltrated and defaced websites across multiple continents and stole login credentials of millions of users has been sentenced to 20 months in prison at Sheffield Crown Court.

Intelligence from US law enforcement and investigations of his online presence showed that 26-year-old Al‑Tahery Al‑Mashriky, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was linked to extremist hacker groups Spider Team and Yemen Cyber Army

Authorities revealed that Al‑Mashriky carried out widespread cyberattacks throughout 2022, targeting organizations in Yemen, Israel, Canada, and the US.

A ‘serial hacker’

Calling Al‑Mashriky a ‘serial hacker,’ the UK’s National Crime Agency lists the following (key) offenses:

Gained unauthorized access to the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Security Media, deploying reconnaissance tools to scan for vulnerabilities.
In February 2022, he infiltrated the Israeli Live News website, accessed its administrative pages, and downloaded the complete site.
Defaced faith-based websites in Canada and the US, along with the site of the California State Water Board.
Bragged on forums about compromising over 3,000 websites in three months during 2022.

Stolen data and potential risk

A forensic examination of devices seized from Al‑Mashriky uncovered alarming quantities of stolen personal data, including login credentials of more than 4 million Facebook users and login names and passwords for services like Netflix and PayPal.

These credentials posed a serious threat, enabling further digital fraud and targeted cybercrime.

Legal proceedings and sentence

Initially charged with 10 offences under the Computer Misuse Act, Al‑Mashriky pleaded guilty to nine offences on March 17 this year, at Sheffield Crown Court.

On Aug. 15, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Deputy Director Paul Foster, head of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, emphasized the severe impact of Al‑Mashriky’s actions:

“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.

Foster underscored the NCA’s technical capabilities and international cooperation in tracking and prosecuting cyber offenders:

“Cybercrime can often appear faceless […] however, as this investigation shows, the NCA has the technical capability to pursue and identify offenders…and bring them to justice.”

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