TECH

Hacker who made cash spit US cash pickup a year in jail

A federal judge sentenced a man this week in Springfield, Mass., To jail for hacking e-tellers so they could spit money. It will be the first time someone in the United States is arrested for this type of attack, known as "jackpotting."The US Department of Justice announced on Wednesday (26) that Argenys Rodriguez will be 12 months and one day in jail. The department announced in February that Rodriguez and Alex Alberto Fajin-Diaz were charged with involvement in a jackpotting scheme.Brian Krebs, a security blogger, reports after a month that the US Secret Service went on to inform banking institutions that hackers were installing hardware and software at ATMs that would make the machines spew money. Before that, jackpotting was a practice known only in Europe and Asia.According to the department, the hackers involved in the Rodrigues scheme were technicians and installed the malware at the ATM. Then other guys went to the place to make the money spit out. Court documents show that they used a Ploutus malware, which allows attackers to use their smartphone to pick up the money.Police in Cromwell, Connecticut, found Fajin-Diaz and Rodriguez near an ATM that was spitting money on Jan. 27 after Citizen Bank investigators alerted authorities to suspicious activity. Police found the suspect's tools needed to get the money.In addition, they had about $ 5,600 in cash, but authorities still found two other partners of them who had taken $ 63,200 from the cashier. Five days earlier, the operation managed to get $ 63,820 from an ATM in Rhode Island.Both Rodriguez and Fajin-Diaz, who is a Spanish citizen, have been convicted of conspiracy for bank fraud. Fajin-Diaz is still awaiting his sentence.In addition to the prison sentence, Rodriguez will remain under supervision for two years and will have to pay back $ 121,355.38.



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