DraftKings hacker pleads guilty to ‘conspiracy to commit computer intrusion’
The teenager could face up to five years for the hack last year that drained money from over 1,500 DraftKings players.
A teenager from Wisconsin has pleaded guilty to hacking into the DraftKings site last year, which resulted in him and others having access to approximately 60,000 DraftKings accounts, of which over 1,500 had funds stolen.
The guilty plea to ‘conspiracy to commit computer intrusion’ could result in the teenager receiving five years in prison. The 19-year-old is set to be sentenced in a Manhattan federal court.
In his court appearance on November 15 in New York, the defendant admitted to the charges. Evidence supporting this included text messages sent by the defendant to other hackers involved in the 2022 incident, saying ‘fraud is fun’ and ‘im addicted to see [sic] money in my account,’ among others.
The attack, which occurred on November 18 2022, involved hackers stealing data revealed in previous data leaks to access user accounts.
Using DraftKings’ internal verification systems, the hackers were able to connect a separate payment method to the accounts that could then be used to remove funds, which the Prosecutor called a removal of, “all the existing funds in the Victim Account.”
DraftKings is one of the industry’s largest sports betting brands. It was the second-highest handle generator in New York in October and Ohio in March, while also having partnered with major sporting events and teams like the Baltimore Ravens in 2021 and with the NBA as a whole in a merchandise collaboration that launched earlier this year.
Despite the hack, DraftKings still boasts over 2 million unique monthly users. The hacker is scheduled to be sentenced on January 16 2024.
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