18-year-old hacker pleads guilty to hacking, stealing $600k from DraftKings

November 20, 2023 World Crime & Legal

An 18-year-old hacker from Wisconsin identified as J.G. admitted guilt to charges of stealing over $600,000 from the well-known online sportsbook DraftKings, raising serious cybersecurity concerns.

According to reports, the hacker illegally accessed over 1,600 DraftKings accounts by using login credentials that were obtained from over 1,000 registered players. This attack, which took place in November 2022, was the result of a technique called “credential stuffing.” Approximately 1,600 accounts had money taken from them as a consequence of the hacker sharing the stolen login credentials with other people, according to sources.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan exposed the extent of the cyberattack, highlighting the hacker’s “fraud is fun” mentality and his admission that he was “addicted to seeing money” in his account—all of which pointed to J.G.’s illicit activities. The investigation also revealed that the 18-year-old conducted the cyberattacks using over 700 distinct files and a range of apps, with a repository that had over 40 million login and password combinations.

In addition to the DraftKings breach allegations, J.G. faces charges of “swatting,” a tactic that entails making fictitious calls to emergency services. Court documents state that the teenager, presumably out of boredom, paid someone with Bitcoin to make fictitious bomb-threat calls to his high school.

Although DraftKings admitted that there had been hacking, no specific names were mentioned in the lawsuit. Nonetheless, the company promptly reimbursed all affected clients for the pilfered monies, underscoring the vital need of safeguarding customers’ financial and personal data.

The teenage hacker entered a plea of guilty to the allegation of planning to commit computer intrusion, which has a five-year maximum sentence. J.G. is going to get his punishment later. The Southern District of New York’s Frauds and Cybercrime Unit, which is being represented by Assistant US attorneys Kevin Mead and Micah Fergenson, is the one pursuing the case.

This cybersecurity incident brings to light the serious problems that online platforms have safeguarding user data, underscoring the critical need for all-encompassing cybersecurity measures to ward against unauthorized access and data breaches.