Ex-US soldier who Googled 'can hacking be treason' pleads guilty to extortion

A former US Army soldier, who reportedly hacked AT&T, bragged about accessing President Donald Trump's call logs, and then Googled "can hacking be treason," and "US military personnel defecting to Russia," pleaded guilty to conspiring to break into telecom firms' databases and extort at least $1 million.

Cameron John Wagenius, 21, who used the nickname "kiberphant0m" online, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, extortion in relation to computer fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Wagenius is scheduled to be sentenced on October 6 and faces over 20 years behind bars if the judge throws the book at him. 

Wagenius previously pleaded guilty in a separate case to two counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records in connection with this conspiracy. 

The telecom hack occurred between April 2023 and December 2024, and during that time, Wagenius and others plotted to defraud at least 10 orgs using stolen ...