The United States has arrested a US Army soldier and charged him with participating in a hacking scheme to sell and distribute stolen phone records. According to the indictment, 20-year-old Cameron John Wagenius allegedly knowingly sold “confidential phone records” on online forums and other communication platforms last November.
Although the indictment does not detail the hacked materials, KrebsOnSecurity reports that Wagenius appears to be involved in a series of high-profile data breaches associated with the online alias “Kiberphant0m.” . Kiberphant0m claimed to have hacked 15 telecommunications companies and sold the stolen information in collaboration with the person allegedly behind the Snowflake data breach.
In November, Kiberphant0m posted what it claimed were AT&T call records between President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s not clear if the data is real, but AT&T suffered a major theft of customer data last year as part of the Snowflake account breach. In 2023, hackers are also suspected of selling “remote access credentials for a major U.S. defense contractor,” Krebs said.
Krebs reported that Wagenius worked in communications at an Army base in South Korea. Following the Trump and Harris data breach allegations, Krebs thoroughly investigated Kiberphant0m’s online communications and identified them as likely U.S. soldiers. In this latest report, Krebs spoke with Wagenius’ mother, who confirmed Wagenius’ connection to the Snowflake hacker suspects.
Cybersecurity experts were reportedly harassed for trying to trace Kiberphant0m’s identity, resulting in the consternation of Allison Nixon, principal investigator at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, which participated in the study. A quotation was born. “It’s a bad idea to anonymously blackmail the president and vice president as members of the military,” Nixon told Krebs, “but harassing people who specialize in anonymizing cybercriminals is a bad idea.” is an even worse idea.”