Syrian hacker sympathetic to Assad pleads guilty in U.S. court
A computer hacker sympathetic to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government pleaded guilty for his role as a middleman in an extortion scheme targeting U.S. media outlets and governments, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.
It said in a statement that Peter Romar, 37, was a member of the Syrian Electronic Army hacking group and had joined an operation to infiltrate computers of Assad's "perceived detractors" in the media, U.S. government and other governments.
Romar's guilty plea was entered in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Romar, who was extradited from Germany in May, faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced, the statement said.
