Ardit Ferizi, a Kosovan citizen, pleaded guilty Wednesday to providing material support to the self-proclaimed Islamic State and accessing a government-protected computer without authorization and obtaining information.
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Ferizi, a native of Kosovo, was arrested in Malaysia in October at the request of US authorities, when he was linked to the online moniker “Th3Dir3ctorY”.
Ferizi admitted to stealing the personal data of about 1,300 US servicemembers and federal employees and giving that information to ISIL “with the understanding that they would incite terrorist attacks against those individuals”, according to Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin.
“Ferizi endangered the lives of over 1,000 Americans”, said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The case is the first to combine charges of terrorism and hacking, representing what US officials called a troubling convergence. He provided the information to ISIL so they could incite terrorist attacks against the individuals. The criminal complaint was unsealed on October 15, 2015. He admitted that around June 13, 2015 that he gained administrator-level access to a server of a company in the US that contained the identifying information of tens of thousands of that company’s customers.
Ferizi faces up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, after which he would be deported and not allowed to return.
A citizen of Kosovo pleaded guilty in USA federal court Wednesday of providing material support to terrorists by giving information obtained through identity theft, the FBI said.
Ardit Ferizi, a 21-year-old citizen of Kosovo who was living in Kuala Lumpur, used the Twitter handle “Th3Dir3ctorY” as part of a collective of hackers from his home country.
Ferizi admitted that from June to August 2015, he had administrator-level access to the databases of a company in the United States, from which he mined identity information to turn over to Islamic State.
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“We are extracting confidential data and passing on your personal information to the soldiers of the khilafah, who soon with the permission of Allah will strike at your necks in your own lands!” the tweeted document said.
