A 21-year old former U.S. Army soldier pleaded guilty to charges of hacking and extorting at least ten telecommunications and technology companies in the country. Cameron John Wagenius was arrested in Texas on December 20, 2024 and indicted in the Western District of Washington on two counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records. In February 2025, the man pleaded guilty to hacking AT&T and Verizon, for which Connor Moucka and John Binnswere had been indicted in November 2024, linking their activities to the major Snowflake hacking incident. According to the latest U.S. DoJ announcement, Wagenius was active in the underground cyberspace between 2023 and 2024 under the aliases 'kiberphant0m', 'cyb3rph4nt0m', and 'buttholio'. He conspired with others to steal login credentials, access sensitive IT systems, and demand ransom payments from breached telecommunication firms under the threat of leaking stolen data on cybercrime forums such as BreachForums and XSS.is. “Between April 2023 and Dec. 18, 2024, Cameron John Wagenius, 21, used online accounts associated with the nickname “kiberphant0m” and conspired with others to defraud at least 10 victim organizations by obtaining login credentials for the organizations’ protected computer networks,” reads the U.S. DoJ announcement. “The conspirators obtained these credentials using a hacking tool that they called SSH Brute, among other means.” “They used Telegram group chats to transfer stolen credentials and discuss gaini...
U.S. Army soldier pleads guilty to extorting 10 tech, telecom firms
BleepingComputer
·Bill Toulas
·Published Jul 16, 2025
·Updated
Affected Software
2 affected components
AT&T Telecommunications
Verizon Telecommunications
Frequently Asked Questions
1
What is the main topic of this article?
A U.S. Army soldier pleaded guilty to extorting at least ten telecommunications and technology companies.
2
What security implications are discussed?
The article highlights the risks of extortion and hacking in the tech and telecom sectors.
3
Who is the individual involved in the extortion case?
Cameron John Wagenius is the 21-year-old former U.S. Army soldier who pleaded guilty.
4
What companies were affected by the extortion attempts?
The extortion targeted major telecommunications firms, including AT&T and Verizon.
5
When was the soldier arrested for the charges?
Cameron John Wagenius was arrested on December 20, 2024.