Romanian hacker gets 3-year prison sentence in the US for identity theft

Romanian hacker Mircea-Ilie Ispasoiu, 31, received a three-year prison sentence in the US on Thursday, September 22, for orchestrating an identity theft scheme that stole data from American firms, reports NJ.com. The Romanian previously pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors say that Ispasoiu hacked into the IT systems of several companies, including retailers, security firms, and medical offices, but also individuals, and stole usernames and passwords, personal identifying information, and credit and debit card data. The U.S. Secret Service and Romanian authorities arrested him in 2014. The American judge also sentenced the Romanian hacker to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay more than USD 907,000 in restitution. At the beginning of September, another Romanian hacker known as Guccifer was sentenced to 52 months in prison by a US federal court. The hacker, on his real name Marcel Lazar, has been accused of breaking into computer accounts of the Bush family, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and others. Six Romanians convicted for credit card fraud in the U.S. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com