Hospital Hacker Must Pay $1.5M, Jailed 5 Years

A man who was part of a hacking gang that stole medical records and tried to blackmail an accounting company has been sentenced to five years in prison. Nathan Wyatt was a member of a group calling themselves The Dark Overlord.

British-born Wyatt had previously been extradited to the United States. He was charged with conspiracy against the US, threatening damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identify theft.

Originally Wyatt pleaded not guilty. He later changed his plea to guilty on the conspiracy charge and received a five year prison sentence and ordered to pay $1,467,048 in restitution. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) did not say if Wyatt had reached a deal with prosecutors or provided any information against his alleged co-conspirators. (Source: justice.gov)

Six Figure Ransom Demand

According to the DOJ, Wyatt admitted he had been involved in the Dark Overlord's criminal activity of hacking healthcare providers and accounting companies, then demanded between $75,000 and $350,000 in return for not releasing sensitive stolen data to the public.

Wyatt said his involvement in the operation was creating and maintaining the online accounts used for sending the demands and (had the victims paid up) collecting the ransom.

Speaking via phone link at the sentencing hearing, Wyatt reportedly said "I don't want to see another computer for the rest of my life."

Netflix Shows Leaked

The group came to public attention in 2017 when it blackmailed Netflix and threatened to leak stolen episodes of the show Orange Is The New Black if it wasn't paid a ransom. Despite Wyatt's arrest and conviction, the group is still claiming credit for ongoing similar attacks and leaks. In several cases it appears to have published stolen information despite the victims paying the ransom.

Wyatt was previously arrested in the UK in 2016 during a police investigation into the hacking of celebrity Pippa Middleton but released without charge. Cyberscoop reports he was then convicted on unrelated fraud offenses in the UK the following year. (Source: cyberscoop.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Does the sentence sound fair to you? Are you surprised the group published stolen information even after collecting ransoms? Will such convictions and sentences ever deter hackers from their schemes?