LOS ANGELES – A member of the SwaggSec hacking group that launched a series of attacks on the computer systems of DirecTV, Farmers Insurance and the Los Angeles Department of Public Works was sentenced to three years in federal prison, officials announced Thursday.
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero sentenced Mario Patrick Chuisano, 32, of Staten Island, New York, who used the online monikers “fame” and “infam0us.”
Judge Otero also ordered Chuisano to pay $2.6 million in restitution to the three victims.
Prosecutors stated the following in a sentencing memo filed Wednesday:
“The theft and release of passwords is particularly disturbing because many people use the same passwords for activities of daily Internet life, such as banking and device access.”
“Publishing stolen passwords accompanied by other identifying information about individuals invites ‘follow-on’ victimization. Moreover, even the naked passwords absent other identifying information can be used by criminals to increase password databases used in brute-force password cracking programs.”
In June, officials stated that Chuisano plead guilty to conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer, as well as to possession of an unregistered firearm, namely a sawed-off shotgun.
In addition, he plead guilty to having a sawed-off shotgun that was discovered in Chuisano’s residence during the execution of a search warrant. FBI agents also recovered an unregistered handgun, brass knuckles, and equipment that could be used to manufacture counterfeit credit and debit cards, according to court documents.
During 2012 and 2013, SwaggSec, or “Swagg Security,” carried out a series of computer attacks and released some stolen information from the compromised systems through an eponymous social media account, according to officials.
In court last year, Chuisano, a self-taught “hacker,” admitted that he installed a Remote Access Trojan or RAT on the computer of an insurance agent. He used the R.A.T. to gain access to the computer and steal reports and documents related to sales agents, as well as thousands of sent and received e-mails and passwords from Farmers Insurance, officials stated.
The 
hackers, including Chuisano, exploited vulnerability in Adobe’s ColdFusion platform to steal e-mails and personal identifying and health information for more than 3,000 people.
SwaggSec is believed to have patterned itself after the similarly named LulzSec, a group of computer hackers who carried out a series of high-profile computer attacks in 2011, officials stated.
Two members of LulzSec – Raynaldo Rivera, also known as “neuron,” and Cody Andrew Kretsinger, also known as “recursion” – were prosecuted by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.
They received prison time for their roles in the attacks