In this particular case study on cybercrime, Justin Sean Johnson was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburg on several charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy, as well as aggravated identity theft, which was linked to the 2014 UPMC hack. Johnson had hacked the university’s employee database and stole more than 65,000 UPMC employees’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and sold several of them on the dark web (USDJ, 2020). This, in turn, resulted in the filing of a myriad of inflated IRS tax return claims. Therefore, the hacker, Johnson, was accused of stealing salary information, home addresses, social security numbers, as well as the names of UPMC’s largest system of healthcare. This left the victims vulnerable to years of potent financial fraud.
The law typically provides a maximum sentence of about 5 years imprisonment and a fine that does not exceed $250,000 for the plot to defraud the US; twenty years in prison in conjunction with a fine not exceeding $250,000 for every wire fraud count, and an obligatory 24 months in prison as well as a fine that does not exceed $250,000 for every identity theft count (Landi, 2020). Some of the potential penalties for hacking include class A or B penalty where class A represents six months in prison together with a fine of approximately $1000, while class B is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000 (Reinhart, 2012).
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To prevent such crimes, the organization should ensure that each employee is conversant with such issues and how they can protect themselves from attack and victimization. The organization should also utilize the latest technologies, including honeypots and firewalls, to protect its networks from intrusion and attacks. In my opinion, I think the penalties for hacking and wire fraud are justifiable because the hacking process usually has permanent impacts on one’s life and especially on the organizations, as they become very vulnerable to fraud and other negative consequences.
References
Landi, H. (2020). Hacker arrested for 2014 UPMC data breach involving 65K employees. Retrieved 28 June 2020, from https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/hacker-arrested-for-2014-upmc-data-breach-identify-theft-involving-65-000-employees
Reinhart, C. (2012). Penalties for Computer Hacking. Retrieved 28 June 2020, from https://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/rpt/2012-R-0254.htm#:~:text=The%20law%20punishes%20hacking%20under,to%20%2415%2C000%2C%20or%20both).
USDJ. (2020) . Michigan Man Arrested for 2014 Hack of UPMC HR Databases and Theft of Employees’ Personal Information. Retrieved 28 June 2020, from https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/pr/michigan-man-arrested-2014-hack-upmc-hr-databases-and-theft-employees-personal
