Application security, Threat Management, Malware, Phishing

Child porn hacker sentenced to 110 years in prison

A North Carolina man was sentenced to more than a century in prison after he seeded teens' computers with trojans and then demanded the victims provide him with nude photographs of themselves.

Ivory Dickerson, 33, was convicted of three counts of manufacturing child pornography, two counts of unlawful computer intrusions, and one count of possession of child porn, Robert O'Neill, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida said Friday in a statement. Dickerson was sentenced to 110 years.

Authorities said Dickerson and an unnamed co-conspirator sent phishing emails or instant messages to female teens living in Brevard County, Fla., trying to trick them into opening a malicious file.

If the victims clicked on the file, a trojan was downloaded to their machine, which gave Dickerson and his accomplice remote access to the victims' PCs, authorities. They then attempted to persuade and force the victims "to manufacture child pornography that they could collect."

Dickerson was arrested after victims told law enforcement that their MySpace profiles had been hacked into, and the intruder demanded they send him erotic images of themselves, according to court records.

If the victims did not comply, Dickerson threatened to hurt their family members or post nude images of them on the web, authorities said.

Dickerson was involved in the hacking of more than 100 computers, authorities said. In addition, his external hard drive contained hundreds of video and photo files of child porn, including some of him and his victims engaging in sexual acts.

Dickerson's attorney did not return a call for comment.

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