10 years for man behind JCC bomb threats

Ashkelon Hacker gets 10 years in prison and $16,000 fine for threatening thousands of institutions worldwide.

Arutz Sheva Staff,

Fear of hacker attack
Fear of hacker attack

On Thursday morning an Israeli court convicted a man known only as the "Ashkelon Hacker." For two years, the hacker threatened thousands of institutes around the world, including the Israeli embassy in the United States, police stations, schools and airports.

The convicted man's name was not publicized since he was a minor while some of the crimes committed. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a NIS 60,000 ($16,000) fine.

Presiding Judge Gurfinkel said, "There is no need to elaborate on the extreme gravity and the extremity of the acts committed by the accused."

According to the judge the defendant used "sophisticated means to camouflage his identity and make a considerable profit of hundreds of thousands of shekels worth 4 million shekels today, by sending threats to various people and participated in illegal and criminal acts via the internet. The defendant targeted thousands of victims worldwide, airports, schools, shopping malls, police stations, hospitals, the Israeli embassy in the US, an American senator and various public institutions."

"The defendant's actions were carried out across the globe with thousands of threatening messages sent to various institutions including 13 countries around the world. Apart from [targeting] Israel and the United States, the defendant also sent threatening messages to Australia, Ireland, England, Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada and Sweden. In the threatening messages, the defendant threatened that acts of terror and murder would be carried out in a crowded places by detonating explosive charges or shootings and that many victims would be injured. The defendant disguised himself, collected money for his delivery of threatening messages. He also offered to sell training videos online on how to make threatening calls while camouflaged, offered dangerous drugs and offered training on various criminal offenses."

The judged finished by saying, "The defendant's conduct shows that he understands his actions and knows they are prohibited and improper."