Matthew Lane, a 19-year-old student, has pleaded guilty to four federal charges related to an extortion scheme targeting two companies, including PowerSchool, a major education tech firm. PowerSchool, which faced a data breach affecting millions of students and teachers, initially claimed it paid a ransom for data deletion but later acknowledged that the attackers failed to do so. Lane and his co-conspirator attempted to extort $200,000 in Bitcoin from a telco by threatening to leak stolen confidential data. Lane's actions reflect a growing trend of cybercrime affecting sensitive sectors like education.
When you messaged us from this account back in November, you told us not to pay any ransom as multiple copies of the data were floating around. Now, you come to us asking to be paid. We need help to understand your position.
By April 2024, Lane and a co-conspirator tried to extort the telco for $200,000 in Bitcoin by threatening to leak the stolen data.
The education tech firm initially claimed it had paid for the stolen data to be deleted, but then later admitted the attackers hadn't held up their end of the deal.
Matthew Lane, 19, agreed to plead guilty to four federal charges: cyber extortion, cyber extortion conspiracy, unauthorized access to protected computers, and aggravated identity theft.
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