Hacker Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison For Stealing Personal Information Of UPMC Employees
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A judge sentenced a man to seven years in prison for stealing the personal information of thousands of UPMC employees.
Investigators say Justin Johnson became an expert in the software utilized by UPMC and used that expertise to hack into the employee database.
Known on the dark web as "Death Star" and "Dearthy Star," authorities say Johnson hacked into the UPMC human resources server database in 2013 and 2014 and stole personal information, including W2s. He then sold that information on the dark web to conspirators, who then filed hundreds of false 1040 tax returns.
Meanwhile, from 2014 to 2017, Johnson stole and sold nearly 90,000 additional non-UPMC sets of personal information that could be used to commit identity theft and bank fraud. That scheme resulted in $1.7 million in false tax returns.
Johnson pled guilty to two of 43 counts against him. He is being held in the Butler County Jail.