Though the recipient’s authenticity remains unverified, his December 2024 Google searches for “can hacking be treason” and “Embassy of Russia – Washington, D.C.” suggest awareness of the operation’s national security implications. The Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) analyzes his devices for ties to other breaches, including a 2024 intrusion of a Washington State healthcare network mentioned in sealed documents. Despite a military order barring technology use on December 6, 2024, Wagenius purchased a new laptop within 48 hours and ran the NordLayer VPN client, a service favored by cybercriminals for its strict no-logs policy and obfuscated tunneling protocols. The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed court documents revealing Wagenius’ use of advanced obfuscation tools like VPNs with zero-log policies and his efforts to sell datasets to a foreign intelligence service, marking one of the most brazen military-linked cybercrimes in recent history. U.S. Army Specialist Cameron John Wagenius, 21, is charged with federal offenses for allegedly hacking at least 15 telecom companies and trying to extort a major provider while leveraging stolen call detail records (CDRs) of high-ranking officials. At a February 26, 2025, detention hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sok Tea Jiang argued Wagenius’s technical prowess and access to unrecovered cloud-based data potentially spanning additional carriers made him a continuing threat. Cyber Security News is a Dedicated News Platform For Cyber News, Cyber Attack News, Hacking News & Vulnerability Analysis. Network logs show daily usage between December 8 and 12, 2024, with evidence of Tor browser installations and encrypted cloud storage links to unseized datasets. On November 6, 2024, he publicly doxxed officials’ personal communications data on BreachForums, writing: “I will leak much much much more, literally all of it” unless Victim-1 paid a $500,000 ransom. Such assets, paired with his October 2024 queries about “defecting to Russia” and “how to get passport fast,” underscore prosecutors’ arguments that he poses a critical flight risk. Kaaviya is a Security Editor and fellow reporter with Cyber Security News. “This VPN software can be useful to cybercriminals attempting to obfuscate their identity and/or location,” prosecutors noted, highlighting concerns about undetected exfiltration during this period. Forensic analysts recovered terabytes of structured query language (SQL) database exports from his devices, indicating compromised systems at multiple carriers.
This Cyber News was published on cybersecuritynews.com. Publication date: Mon, 03 Mar 2025 10:45:19 +0000