Ahmad Umar Agha, a member of the Syrian Electronic Army known online as "Th3Pr0," was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Virginia to 42 months in prison, according to the Justice Department. The DOJ said his conspiracy targeted nearly 50 Western targets.
The DOJ said Agha hacked about 47 Western media outlets, non-profit groups and other entities allied with the U.S. The department also said the group's digital conspiracy collected intelligence for Bashar al-Assad's government before its fall.
The source says the conspiracy was organized by Assad's closest advisers. It says the hacking group has been involved since at least 2011 in computer intrusions in support of Assad, whose government was overthrown by a rebel coalition in 2024 after a civil war.
The report describes a 2013 incident in which the group said it hijacked the Associated Press's Twitter account. The tweet falsely reported an explosion at the White House had injured President Barack Obama. The report says the hoax caused a brief $136 billion dip in the stock market.
A 2014 FBI affidavit said a Twitter message confirming a password reset for the account was sent to an email address used by Agha, according to the report.
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