Syriaupdated 49m ago3 min read
U.S. Sentences Syrian Hacker Ahmed Omar Agha To 42 Months For Assad-Linked Cyberattacks
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Ahmed Omar Agha, 32, sentenced in Virginia to 42 months for Assad-linked cyber hacking. He participated in a wide hacking conspiracy led by Assad inner circle.
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Agha sentenced in Virginia
A federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced Syrian citizen Ahmed Omar Agha (32) to 42 months in prison after prosecutors convicted him of participating in cyber hacking attacks targeting media institutions, companies, organizations, and countries allied with the United States on behalf of the regime of the deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Agha, known as "TH3PRO," was involved for more than a decade, from August 24, 2011 to January 31, 2024, in breaches affecting about 47 entities to disseminate what it described as propaganda for the former Syrian regime.
Prosecutors said the defendant belonged to the cyber hacking group known as the Syrian Electronic Army, which was run by close associates of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.
Deputy Attorney General John Eisenberg said Agha used his hacking skills to serve the Assad regime to prevent coverage of the regime’s atrocities and to intimidate its opponents, as well as to incite members of the U.S. military to refuse orders.
The Justice Department said one of the group’s most notable operations was hacking the account of an American news agency on the Twitter platform (now X) in 2013 and posting a false tweet claiming that then-President Barack Obama had been injured in two explosions at the White House.
Eisenberg and the $136 billion
Deputy Attorney General John Eisenberg said prosecutors viewed Agha’s attacks as an attack on press freedom and on U.S. national and economic security, and he pointed to the temporary disappearance of $136 billion belonging to American investors.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Agha’s actions caused a sudden collapse in the U.S. stock market, resulting in a temporary loss of $136 billion in the value of stocks listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
SANA said court documents described attacks carried out between August 24, 2011 and January 31, 2024, aimed to silence media outlets that published information about violations committed by the former regime during the events of the Arab Spring and the Syrian Revolution.
SANA also said the attacks included hacking the Twitter account of an international news agency in April 2013, from which false information about two explosions at the White House and injuries to then-President Barack Obama was posted.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the indictment charged another defendant named Firas Dardar, who remains at large, while a third defendant named Peter Romar was surrendered to the United States and pled guilty in September 2016.
Cyber operations and enforcement
SANA said court documents described economic losses and technological damage, including one company suffering losses of about $35,000 per day for six months and an international non-governmental organization spending approximately $480,000 to restructure its security systems, update network monitoring tools, and retrain more than 800 employees.
SANA said Agha managed to hack into the company hosting the U.S. Marine Corps recruitment website and redirect visitors to a page containing messages urging soldiers to disobey orders and fight alongside the army of the former regime, exposing about 3,500 potential visitors to that content.
SANA said Agha attempted on two occasions to take over White House social media accounts by stealing the login credentials of its employees, and it said he managed to access one of the accounts in one attempt.
Eurasia Review said the hacking conspiracy was organized and led by members of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, including the commander of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate, from as early as Aug. 24, 2011 to Jan. 31, 2024.
Eurasia Review quoted Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg saying, "Agha deployed his hacking skills in the service of Assad’s regime to silence reporting on the regime’s atrocities, intimidate its opponents, and incite U.S. servicemembers to refuse their orders."