A Russian man pleaded guilty over one of the biggest-ever hacks, where 100 million people's data was stolen from US companies like JPMorgan Chase
- A Russian man pleaded guilty to being involved in a major hacking operation on US companies that led to 100 million people's data being stolen.
- Andrei Tyurin, 36, pleaded guilty to six counts, including computer hacking conspiracy and bank fraud, in New York on Monday.
- The operation, between 2014 and 2015, stole data from 83 million JPMorgan Chase customers. The district attorney called it "one of the largest thefts of US customer data from a single financial institution in history."
- Tyurin could get a life sentence, and charges three more men, including the alleged mastermind, are still pending.
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A Russian man pleaded guilty to charges that he took part in a massive hacking operation that led to millions of people's data being stolen from a dozen US companies, including JPMorgan Chase.
Andrei Tyurin, 36, pleaded guilty in New York on Monday to six counts, including computer hacking conspiracy and bank fraud, over what prosecutors called one of the biggest hacking cases ever uncovered.
The operation, which ran between 2012 and 2015, compromised 100 million peoples' data, including 83 million JPMorgan Chase customers.
In a statement, Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, called it "one of the largest thefts of US customer data from a single financial institution in history."
"With today's plea, Tyurin's global reign of computer intrusion is over and he faces significant time in a US prison for his crimes," Berman added.
JPMorgan Chase disclosed the attack in 2014, according to Reuters.
Tyurin is the first person to be convicted as part of the operation, and charges against three other men are pending.
His lawyer said on Monday that Tyurin was "hired by the originators and brains of the scheme to infiltrate vulnerable computer systems at their direction," The New York Times reported.
Prosecutors accuse Gery Shalon, one of the three other men facing charges, of being the mastermind of the scheme.
Tyurin was extradited to the US from the eastern European country of Georgia in 2018 on charges that he took part in the operation, which also targeted E*Trade Financial Corp, Scottrade Inc, and News Corp's Dow Jones & Co, which publishes The Wall Street Journal.
He will be sentenced in February and could face life in prison, the Times reported. On Monday, he agreed to forfeit $19 million.
US authorities had initially believed that the attack came from the Russian state because of the high level of skill involved, Bloomberg reported.
Prosecutors said the operation involved hacking companies to get customers' contact data, and then giving misleading information about stocks to those people so they could artificially inflate the stock price.
Prosecutors said that their operation meant that they "obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds."