Ex-soldier's telecom hacking spree earns him 70 months

Once stationed in South Korea and Texas, a former US Army soldier, Cameron John Wagenius, 22, orchestrated a hacking spree that earned him a 70-month prison sentence. The campaign transpired between April 2023 and December 2024, during which he unlawfully transferred sensitive phone records and pursued extortion efforts. Wagenius pleaded guilty in March 2025 to charges of wire fraud, computer-related extortion, and aggravated identity theft.

Collaborating with three accomplices, he infiltrated the protected networks of at least ten organizations. The Justice Department has not named the victims, but they are identified as US and overseas telecom companies and other entities. Wagenius also had ties to the 2024 Snowflake extortion campaign, impacting AT&T, Verizon, and numerous other firms.

Utilizing a hacking tool he co-developed, SSH Brute, and other methods, he and his co-conspirators obtained login credentials via Telegram group chats. They exchanged stolen data and threatened to publish it unless victims paid a ransom, aiming to extort a combined total of at least $1 million. Wagenius was sentenced by US District Judge Lauren King, who emphasized his disregard for national security and greed, ordering him to pay $294,978 in restitution.