Mir Islam

June 1, 2016

Mir Islam – the Guy the Govt Says Swatted My Home – to be Sentenced June 22

This post was originally published on this siteOn March 14, 2013 our humble home in Annandale, Va. was “swatted” — that is to say, surrounded by a heavily-armed police force that was responding to fraudulent reports of a hostage situation at our residence. Later this month the government will sentence 21-year-old hacker named Mir Islam for that stunt and for leading a criminal conspiracy allegedly engaged in a pattern of swatting, identity theft and wire fraud. Mir Isam Mir Islam briefly rose to Internet infamy as one of the core members of UGNazi, an online mischief-making group that claimed credit for hacking […]
July 11, 2016

Serial Swatter, Stalker and Doxer Mir Islam Gets Just 1 Year in Jail

This post was originally published on this siteMir Islam, a 21-year-old Brooklyn man who pleaded guilty to an impressive array of cybercrimes including cyberstalking, “doxing” and “swatting” celebrities and public officials (as well as this author), was sentenced in federal court today to two years in prison. Unfortunately, thanks to time served in this and other cases, Islam will only see a year of jail time in connection with some fairly heinous assaults that are becoming all too common. While Islam’s sentence fell well short of the government’s request for punishment, the case raises novel legal issues as to how […]
February 17, 2017

Men Who Sent Swat Team, Heroin to My Home Sentenced

This post was originally published on this siteIt’s been a remarkable week for cyber justice. On Thursday, a Ukrainian man who hatched a plan in 2013 to send heroin to my home and then call the cops when the drugs arrived was sentenced to 41 months in prison for unrelated cybercrime charges. Separately, a 19-year-old American who admitted to being part of a hacker group that sent a heavily-armed police force to my home in 2013 was sentenced to three years probation. Sergei “Fly” Vovnenko, in an undated photo. In a letter to this author following his arrest, Vovnenko said […]
May 24, 2018

3 Charged In Fatal Kansas ‘Swatting’ Attack

This post was originally published on this siteFederal prosecutors have charged three men with carrying out a deadly hoax known as “swatting,” in which perpetrators call or message a target’s local 911 operators claiming a fake hostage situation or a bomb threat in progress at the target’s address — with the expectation that local police may respond to the scene with deadly force. While only one of the three men is accused of making the phony call to police that got an innocent man shot and killed, investigators say the other two men’s efforts to taunt and deceive one another […]