US soldier charged with selling stolen confidential phone records

By AJ Vicens

DETROIT (Reuters) -Federal authorities on Monday unsealed an indictment accusing a U.S. Army soldier of selling and attempting to sell stolen confidential phone records.

Cameron John Wagenius was arrested Dec. 20 and charged in the courthouse for the Western District of Texas in Waco with two counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records information, according to court records, which did not specify his rank or where he was stationed.

"We are aware of the arrest of a Fort Cavazos soldier," Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, spokesperson for the III Armored Corps, told Reuters in an email. "III Armored Corps will continue to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies as appropriate." Fort Cavasos, formerly Fort Hood, is in Texas.

Sztalkoper referred further questions to the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, which said it could not immediately provide details. 

The court records did not give specifics about the allegations but cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs said on his website that Wagenius went by the name “Kiberphant0m” online and shared claims of multiple hacks, including call records allegedly related to Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Donald Trump. Krebs said Wagenius was 20 years old, but court records or the Army did not confirm this.

A Texas magistrate ordered Wagenius to be sent to Seattle where the federal prosecutors handling the case are based, according to a court filing.

That office is handling the prosecution of Connor Moucka and John Binns, who are accused of a range of crimes connected to a string of breaches of data connected to “billions of sensitive customer service records,” non-content call and text history records, banking and financial information, payroll records, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, Social Security numbers and other personal information, according to an Oct. 10 indictment.

An attorney for Wagenius could not immediately be reached for comment.

Moucka, 25, was arrested Oct. 30 at his home in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and faces extradition to the U.S. Canada's Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a question on Moucka’s status. Binns is currently in jail in connection with accusations surrounding a separate hack in Turkey, where he was living.

Moucka and Binns are likely involved in data theft and extortion of dozens of customer companies of Snowflake, a data storage and processing firm, researchers have said.

Allison Nixon, chief research officer at cybersecurity company Unit 221B, told Reuters she and an anonymous colleague identified Wagenius’ true identity after Moucka’s hacking group “threatened us for no reason.” Wagenius was a member of that group, she said.

“Law enforcement's turnaround time afterwards was the fastest I have witnessed in my entire career,” Nixon said. “It was incredible to watch."

Neither the Department of Justice nor the FBI immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday. 

(AReporting by A.J. Vicens; Editing by David Gregorio)