Jailtime for the perpetrators of the LexisNexis hack

A man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit computer fraud and identity theft has been sentenced to one year’s imprisonment by a Florida law court.

According to Sophos, Justin A Perras was one of five co-defendants who admitted hacking into computers at information management and workflow solutions provider LexisNexis. The computers were accessed using Trojan horses and social engineering tricks, in order to make unauthorised entries into the company’s Accurint database, which is used by law enforcement agencies amongst others. Perras was sentenced to one year in prison, followed by three years supervised release and 100 hours of community service.

The other defendants were sentenced in December 2006 for their roles in the conspiracy, and between them must pay LexisNexis 105,750 USD in compensation. Sophos experts note that the five culprits have been banned from using computers following the discovery of their crimes.