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A federal court in Virginia sentenced Syrian national Ahmad Umar Agha to 42 months in prison on Thursday, October 29, for his role in a hacking conspiracy run by members of Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, the US Justice Department said.
Agha, who used the alias “Th3Pr0,” had been a fugitive for more than a decade. Prosecutors say the conspiracy ran from as early as August 24, 2011, to January 31, 2024, and included the commander of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate. Agha hacked about 47 Western media outlets, businesses, NGOs, and US and allied government entities to spread propaganda for the former Syrian government.
The best-known incident came on April 23, 2013. A hacked news agency Twitter account posted a false claim that President Obama had been injured in explosions at the White House. The post caused a brief flash crash that erased about $136 billion in value from Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks, a figure also reported by AFP.
The Justice Department detailed what the attacks cost victims in direct losses. One company lost about $35,000 a day for roughly six months. A global NGO lost $480,000 in total, including about $250,000 for new network monitoring products and retraining more than 800 staff.
Agha also redirected visitors of the US Marine Corps recruiting website to an image urging Marines to refuse orders. About 3,500 potential visitors saw it. He twice tried to take control of the White House’s social media accounts. In one attempt he stole the email credentials of White House staff but did not gain access to the accounts.
Agha was 32 at sentencing, AFP reported. Co-defendant Firas Dardar was first charged by complaint on June 12, 2014, and indicted on May 17, 2018. He remains a fugitive. Peter Romar, a third Syrian charged in the case, was extradited and pleaded guilty in September 2016, according to AFP. The case was heard in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where Agha was sentenced. The FBI Washington Field Office led the investigation with the FBI Cyber Division. Prosecutors came from the Eastern District of Virginia and the National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section.
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