26-year old pleads guilty to hacking AT&T iPad data

Last year hackers made headlines when AT&T announced to a security breach that had allowed hackers to access the personal data from 114,000 iPad 3G users. On Thursday, 26-year old Daniel Spitler from San Francisco pleaded guilty to two crimes: conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers and identity theft. Spitler faces up to 10 years in prison — five years for each count, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Computer hackers are exacting an increasing toll on our society, damaging individuals and organizations to gain notoriety for themselves,” said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey. “Daniel Spitler’s guilty plea is a timely reminder of the consequences of treating criminal activity as a competitive sport.” Fishman’s statements are clearly also aimed at other hackers; LulzSec and Anonymous, two hacking groups, recently announced that they have joined forces to attack the U.S. government. That’s in addition to recent hacks on Sony — which LulzSec took responsibility for — and Citigroup. Spitler will be sentenced on September 28th.

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