Former U.S. soldier sentenced for hacking AT&T and Verizon

Cameron John Wagenius, a 22-year-old former U.S. Army soldier, has been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for his role in a cybercrime campaign targeting major telecommunications companies. Between April 2023 and December 2024, while on active duty, Wagenius conspired with others to breach the systems of providers including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Court documents reveal that the group used tools such as the SSH Brute utility to obtain credentials and exfiltrate sensitive data. The conspirators attempted to extort at least $1 million from various organizations and sold stolen information on cybercrime forums. In November 2024, Wagenius publicly disclosed the confidential call detail records of a government official and threatened to release more unless ransoms were paid.

Wagenius pleaded guilty to charges including wire fraud conspiracy, extortion, and aggravated identity theft. In addition to his prison term, he was ordered to pay $294,978 in restitution. The investigation also linked the activities to a series of attacks targeting customers of the data storage company Snowflake. His accomplices include Canadian national Connor Riley Moucka and U.S. citizen John Erin Binns.