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Connor Moucka pleads guilty over sprawling 2024 campaign that looted billions of records
A Canadian who helped orchestrate the sprawling Snowflake-linked data theft campaign has pleaded guilty in the US, admitting that he and his co-conspirators returned to squeeze at least one victim a second time.Connor Riley Moucka, 26, of Kitchener, Ontario, admitted computer fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy charges over a hacking spree that compromised more than 165 organizations, exposed billions of customer records, and brought in about $2.5 million in ransom payments.According to the US Department of Justice, Moucka and his co-conspirators used stolen login credentials to break into the cloud environments of at least 165 customers of a US software provider between February and October 2024. The DOJ still doesn't name the company, but the allegations match the 2024 campaign against Snowflake customers that ensnared the likes of Ticketmaster, Santander, AT&T, and dozens of others.
In a plea agreement seen by The Register, Moucka admitted developing software that automatically searched compromised cloud environments for valuable information. He and his co-conspirators used it to identify lucrative targets and steal terabytes of banking records, payroll data, passport and driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers, DEA registration numbers, and other sensitive information. They then threatened to publish the haul unless victims paid up.
