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Teen to Plead Guilty to PowerSchool Extortion Attack
- Matthew D. Lane, a 19-year-old student from Massachusetts, has accepted a plea deal admitting involvement in cyberattacks and extortion targeting two U.S. Companies, including the education software provider PowerSchool, in 2024.
- Beginning in September 2024, Lane exploited stolen credentials from a PowerSchool contractor to infiltrate systems containing the personal information of tens of millions of students and millions of educators spanning thousands of school districts.
- On December 28, 2024, he demanded a ransom payment amounting to roughly 30 Bitcoin, valued at nearly $2.85 million, threatening to publicly release the stolen data if his demand was not met; earlier that year, he also attempted to extort a U.S. Telecom company for $200,000.
- Lane faces four federal charges including cyber extortion conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, with possible sentences totaling up to 17 years, fines up to $250,000, and mandatory minimum prison time of two years.
- This case highlights the financial and privacy risks posed by cyber extortion on education and telecom sectors, as Lane exploited sensitive data to attempt multi-million-dollar ransoms.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Teen Hacker Stole 60 Million Kids' Data and Tried to Ransom It for Bitcoin
Where most 19-year-olds are taking their first steps into adulthood in their quest to figure out who they are, 19-year-old Matthew D. Lane already knows exactly who he is: a teenager who stole the personal data of tens of millions of children and attempted to ransom it for Bitcoin. The Massachusetts teen just pled guilty to a handful of federal cybercrimes. These include cyber extortion, aggravated identity theft, and unauthorized access to prot…
Mass. college student pleads guilty in case tied to hack that exposed NC students, teachers
Matthew Lane, 19, was charged with cyber extortion conspiracy, cyber extortion and aggravated identity theft, according to federal prosecutors. PowerSchool, a student data company, was among Lane's victims, state officials say.
19-year-old student to plead guilty to huge school database hack
A 19-year-old college student will plead guilty to carrying out a massive hack against PowerSchool, a popular student information system used by schools around the country. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice said Matthew Lane of Massachusetts agreed to plead guilty to four counts, including cyber extortion, unauthorized access to protected computers, and aggravated identity theft. Though the DOJ doesn’t identify PowerSchool by name, the detai…
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