British hacker Joseph O’Connor, known as “PlugwalkJoe,” has been sentenced to five years in prison in the United States for his role in a high-profile SIM swap attack.

The attack targeted a crypto exchange executive in 2019, resulting in the theft of approximately $794,000 worth of cryptocurrency. O’Connor’s case gained international attention, highlighting the growing threat of cybercrime in the crypto space.

A SIM swap attack is a type of social engineering attack where the attacker tricks a mobile carrier into transferring a victim’s phone number to a new SIM card that they control.

This gives the attacker access to the victim’s phone number and all of the accounts that are associated with it, including email, social media, and cryptocurrency wallets.

In O’Connor’s case, he and his co-conspirators executed a SIM swap attack on a crypto exchange executive, gaining unauthorized access to the victim’s accounts and computer systems.

Between March and May 2019, they successfully stole and diverted cryptocurrency valued at approximately $794,000 at the time, now worth over $1.6 million.

Full article here: https://optimisus.com/news/crypto-news/british-hacker-sentenced-to-5-years-in-prison-for-794000-crypto-theft-in-sim-swap-attack/