While serving a seven-year prison sentence, the Hacker phoned schools and hotels, claiming to have bombed them • Due to "reports," police were charged with detecting cargo

• During his arrest - he extorted threats

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  Reuters

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court sentenced the "hacker from Ashkelon" to a year in prison and a suspended sentence. The punishment was given for offenses he committed during his arrest - extortion of threats, publication of false news causing fear and panic and false news regarding a crime. Judge Noa Tavor ruled that 45 days out of the current sentence would be added to the seven-year prison sentence, which he is currently serving.

According to the revised indictment in which the defendant was convicted, while in custody until the end of proceedings for his central case for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison, the defendant called two elementary schools in the center of the country and threatened staff members for bombing in these educational institutions. Following his threats, the students were evacuated and called to the school by police and terrorists who scanned them for the purpose of detecting explosives.

In addition, the defendant called a hotel in Eilat and told the security officer instead that he had inserted a bomb into the hotel. As a result, the hotel staff alerted police who scoured the building and its surroundings to locate explosives.

Sentence was given following a plea bargain received by the court. Among the prosecutor's considerations of reaching a settlement are taking the responsibility of the defendant and expressing remorse, the characteristics of the personality and personal circumstances of the defendant, his young age (21) and the long prison sentence he is currently serving.

In the central case, the "hacker from Ashkelon" was convicted of a long mask of blackmail threats, threatening to publish false news causing panic and fear, impersonating others, assaulting a police officer in aggravating circumstances, infiltrating computer material to commit another offense, money laundering and more. The offenses were committed from 2015 until his arrest in 2017.

The defendant contacted and contacted various agencies around the world thousands of times and threatened them with acts of terrorism and murder. These acts were carried out via the Internet and using sophisticated technological means to disguise the source of the communication and its voice.

Following the actions of the Hacker from Ashkelon, public panic ensued, and emergency evacuations were launched to evacuate sites and even to land an un-targeted aircraft. In addition, the defendant offered in the "dark web" his services in making such calls for a fee, as well as instructional videos explaining how to have intimidation and threat calls using camouflage, and detailed guides on how to commit the offenses.

In addition, the defendant hired on the "dark web" services of people to perform for him, as "subcontractors", part of the threat calls, guided them and paid them to Bitcoin. He got paid in return for Bitcoin to blur traces. Many people purchased the services of the Hacker from Ashkelon, so he received and held Bitcoin wallets for the equivalent of about NIS 873,179.