In a first of its kind case, an ISIS-linked hacker pleaded guilty to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Ardit Ferizi, aka Th3Dir3ctorY, 20, pleaded guilty June 15 in an Eastern District of Virginia courtroom after admitting to stealing the PII of over 1,000 U.S. service members and federal employees, according to a Department of Justice release.
The Kosovo citizen then sent the information to ISIS with the understanding that it would be used incite terrorist attacks against those individuals, the release said.
He was arrested by Malaysian authorities on a provisional warrant on behalf of the U.S. and was charged by criminal complaint on Oct. 6, 2015 before being extradition to the U.S.
Ferizi is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 16 and faces a maximum of 20 years for providing the material support to the terrorist group and a maximum of five years for accessing a protected computer without authorization and obtaining information
