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Press Release

Boston Man Charged In Twitter Hack

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California

SAN JOSE – Cameron Lacroix was charged today in San Jose with hacking Zendesk, a San Francisco company that provides helpdesk support to numerous companies, including Twitter, announced U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson.

According to the criminal information, Lacroix, 25, of New Bedford, Mass., hacked into Zendesk’s website in February 2013 and disabled a security feature designed to limit who can view information pertaining to Zendesk’s customers. The information charges that Lacroix exported approximately one million Twitter support tickets to computers outside of Zendesk’s network and that he used that information to compromise and deface the Twitter feeds for two companies. The information further alleges that Zendesk and Twitter incurred combined losses of over $200,000 responding to the attacks.

Lacroix is expected to make his first appearance on Aug. 8, 2014, in the District of Massachusetts, where he is also facing federal charges in No. 14-CR-10162-MLW. Lacroix is out of custody in the Boston case, having been released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond.

An information merely alleges that crimes have been committed; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted of the offense charged in the information, a violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1030(a)(5)(A) and (c)(4)(B), the defendant would face a maximum sentence of 10 years, and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

David R. Callaway is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Elise Etter and Lakisha Holliman. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.

(Lacroix information )

 

 

Updated November 18, 2014