A blind man tracked by the FBI since he was a teenager was sentenced to prison recently for his role in hacking into a telephone system and intimidating a Verizon security investigator. The court sentenced him to 135 months in prison.A blind
Boston-area hacker was hit with more than 11 years in prison June 26 for his
role in hacking into a telephone network and threatening the Verizon
investigator building a case against him.
Matthew Weigman, 19, also known as "Little Hacker," was
accused of being part of a gang
of telephone hackers that made more than 60 fake emergency calls and broke
into the phone network to make it appear as though the calls came from
somewhere else.
Weigman pleaded guilty in February to one count of
conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, victim or informant as well as one
count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud. According to Wired, which
has interviewed Weigman in the past about his activities, the FBI had been
chasing the hacker since he was 15, and at times treated him as an informant.
As part of his plea, he admitted to conspiring with other hackers to place
bogus emergency calls that sent SWAT units to the homes of their unsuspecting
victims.
Weigman used a number of techniques to break into the
phone systems, including war-dialing, where he and the others would call
thousands of phone numbers with the hope of gaining access to a system.
Another defendant in the case,
23-year-old Sean Paul Benton, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday after
pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to obstruct justice.
Network Security & Hardware 
