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International Computer Hacker Sentenced

By Jamie Burch

Panama City man sentenced to 3 years, 5 months in federal prison for infecting hundreds of computers in Europe with "adware" that cost tens of thousands of dollars to detect and remove. International Computer Hacker Sentenced

Published: Wed, June 11, 2008 - 1:37 pm

A Panama City man was sentenced Wednesday to 3 years, 5 months in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for infecting hundreds of computers in Europe with "adware" that cost tens of thousands of dollars to detect and remove.

Prosecutors say 21-year-old Robert Bentley and other unnamed co-conspirators were payed to hack into computer networks across Europe and install the harmful adware.

In December 2006, European representatives of Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid and at least one other European company contacted London Police claiming someone hacked into their networks.

The U.S. Secret Service then launched a massive investigation that involved the FBI, London Police and the Finland National Bureau of Investigation.

As part of his guilty plea, Bentley agreed to give a detailed summary of his role in the international hacking. In addition to the prison time, Bentley was ordered to pay $65,000 in restitution.

"The sentencing of Bentley marks the successful conclusion of a complex international investigation," United States Attorney Gregory Miller said. "His indictment, conviction, and sentence could not have been achieved without the continuing and outstanding cooperation of the many participating law enforcement agencies – each of which focused their energies on detecting and responding to “botnets” – a series of computers covertly controlled by Bentley and his co-conspirators to accomplish the intrusion of victim computer systems.”