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Bronk
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In a cautionary tale for users of social-networking sites, a California man has admitted using personal information he gleaned from Facebook to hack into women’s e-mail accounts, then send nude pictures of them to everyone in their address book.
The California attorney general’s office said Friday that George Bronk, 23, commandeered the e-mail accounts of dozens of women in the U.S. and England. He then scanned the women’s “sent” folders for nude and seminude photos and videos, and forwarded any he found to all the women’s contacts, prosecutors said.
Bronk coerced one woman into sending him more explicit photographs by threatening to distribute the pictures he already had. One victim told authorities the intrusion felt like “virtual rape.”
Bronk, who lives in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights, pleaded guilty Thursday to seven felonies in Sacramento County Superior Court, including computer intrusion, false impersonation and possession of child pornography.
Prosecutors are seeking a six-year prison term when Bronk returns for a sentencing evaluation March 10.
His attorney, Monica Lynch of Roseville, called her client a “23-year-old boy going on 15.”
“He’s accepted full responsibility. It’s a tragic situation,” she said.
Lynch said she will argue for less than a six-year sentence.
Prosecutors said Bronk would scan women’s Facebook accounts looking for those who posted their e-mail
addresses. He would then study their Facebook postings to learn the answers to common security questions like their favorite color or father’s middle name.
He contacted the women’s e-mail providers and used the information to gain control of their accounts. He also often gained control of their Facebook accounts by hijacking their passwords, then posted compromising photographs on their Facebook pages and other Internet sites.
“This case highlights the fact that anyone with an e-mail account is vulnerable to identity theft,” Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement announcing Bronk’s guilty plea.
Investigators found 172 e-mail files containing explicit photographs of women when they searched Bronk’s computer in September, according to a court affidavit. They were able to track his victims to England, Washington, D.C., and 17 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
Bronk began his hacking in December 2009, prosecutors said. He will have to register as a sex offender because of his guilty plea.
Investigators caught on after a victim called Connecticut State Police, which referred the complaint to the California Highway Patrol.
Bronk was arrested in October and remains jailed on $500,000 bond.
Article source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20110115_46_A10_CUTLIN881805rss_lnk=5
Category: Social Media Threats