A 20-year-old U.S. Army soldier, Cameron John Wagenius, has been arrested and indicted by federal authorities on charges of being the cybercriminal known as Kiberphant0m. Kiberphant0m is accused of selling and leaking sensitive customer call records stolen from telecommunications giants AT&T and Verizon earlier this year. Wagenius was stationed in South Korea before his arrest near the Army base in Fort Hood, Texas on Dec. 20. He faces two criminal counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records.
The indictment against Wagenius, while only two pages long, does not mention specific victims or hacking activities. However, Wagenius’ mother, Minnesota native Alicia Roen, provided additional information about her son’s involvement in cybercrime. Prior to his arrest, Wagenius had admitted to being associated with Connor Riley Moucka, also known as “Judische,” a Canadian cybercriminal who was arrested in late October for data theft and extortion against companies using the cloud service Snowflake.
According to Roen, Wagenius worked on radio signals and network communications at an Army base in South Korea for two years. She expressed shock at the revelations of her son’s criminal activities, stating that she was unaware of his involvement in hacking. Wagenius’s interest in computers and his desire to follow in his older brother’s footsteps led him to join the Army at a young age.
Following Moucka’s arrest, Kiberphant0m posted AT&T call logs allegedly belonging to President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on a hacker forum. The cybercriminal threatened to leak more government call logs if demands were not met and claimed responsibility for hacking into multiple telecommunications firms. Additionally, Kiberphant0m shared what they claimed was a stolen data schema from the U.S. National Security Agency.
Wagenius’s Facebook profile photos, featuring him in military uniform and holding Army-issued weapons, were removed after his identification as Kiberphant0m by cybersecurity experts. The indictment against Wagenius has been transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle for further proceedings.
Allison Nixon, chief research officer at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, helped uncover Kiberphant0m’s real identity and emphasized the risks faced by cybercriminals engaging in extortion and harassment. Nixon highlighted the speed at which law enforcement acted in the case, warning other cybercriminals that they are not immune to arrest and urging them to seek legal counsel. The investigation serves as a reminder that law enforcement is actively targeting cybercriminals, even those operating within the United States.
In conclusion, the case of Cameron John Wagenius, also known as Kiberphant0m, highlights the perils of engaging in cybercrime and the swift actions taken by law enforcement to apprehend individuals involved in illegal activities. The reality of facing legal consequences serves as a deterrent to others considering criminal behavior in the digital realm.