| Ardit Ferizi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1995[1] |
| Nationality | Kosovo |
| Other names | th3dir3ctory |
| Occupation | black hat hacker |
| Known for | First computer hacker to face terrorism charges in the United States[2] |
Ardit Ferizi is the name of a Kosovan computer hacker who was arrested and extradited to the United States from Malaysia after being arrested for hacking the records of US personnels.
Before his arrest
He headed the Kosovar hacker group "Kosova Hacker's security, which is responsible for hacking government and private websites in Israel, Serbia, Greece, the Ukraine, and elsewhere.
In an interview released by “Th3 Dir3ctorY” (Ferizi used the online pseudonymous of “Th3Dir3ctorY”) to the Infosec Institute, the hacker released the following and explained that the Kosova Hacker’s Security was created to fight the Serbian country online.
“Kosovo people were violated from the Republic of Serbia. A war sparked between Serbia and Kosovo in 1999. They killed about more than 20, 000 people and raped more than 30, 000 women. Kosova Hacker’s Security was created to fight the Serbian country in the Cyber World."
In April 2015 he provided confidential information to an ISIS member known as "Hamayun".
Somewhere in June and August 2015, Ferizi obtained around 1351 of sensitive records of U.S. military and government workers, including emails, passwords, names, phone numbers, and location information. He then provided the information to an ISIL member Junaid Hussain who in turn posted a link to those exposed records on Twitter.
Later on August 13rd an employee of one of the companies hacked by Ferizi reported an illegal access to their servers. Six days later, the FBI was contacted about a threatening message sent by Ferizi to one of his victims.
Mr Ferizi has been known to use the infamous SQL injection attack on one occasion.
As a result he was charged with three counts of crimes in the United States, which are 18 U.S. Code § 1028A - Aggravated identity theft , 18 U.S. Code § 1030 - Unauthorized access to a computer and 18 U.S. Code § 2339B- Providing material support to a foreign terrorist group.
Before his arrest he resided in Malaysia on a student visa and studying at Limkokwing University. It is believed that he entered Malaysia in or about early 2015.
Arrest and aftermath
He was arrested in Malaysia for his hacking activities on 15th September 2015. At a later date he was extradited to the United States to face his trial and was sentenced to 20 years in prison one year later.