Skip to main content

Jailed hacker insists he doesn’t want to see a computer ever again

A hacker who was part of the notorious Dark Overlord group has been handed a five-year prison term for his crimes.

British national Nathan Wyatt was jailed by a Missouri court this week after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit aggravated identity theft and computer fraud in 2016. The group targeted a number of medical-related firms and accounting businesses, remotely stealing data that included personal information belonging to patients and clients. The Dark Overlord then threatened to sell the data on the dark web unless the firms made Bitcoins payment of as much as $300,000. None of the companies are believed to have followed the gang’s instructions.

The court documents revealed little about the targeted businesses, though it’s known that they are located in Missouri, Illinois, and Georgia, media outlets reported on Monday.

Wyatt, who was also ordered to pay about $1.5 million in restitution, told the court via Zoom, “I can promise you that I’m out of that world,” adding, “I don’t want to see another computer for the rest of my life.”

The hacker, whose group also claimed responsibility for leaking episodes of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black in 2017, did not orchestrate the actual hacks but did play a role in the overall operation, his lawyer, Brocca Morrison, told the court.

Federal prosecutor Laura Kathleen Bernstein said the defendant had used his phone account to send threatening messages to relatives of company owners that had had data stolen. Bernstein also said that Wyatt’s actions had helped his fellow perpetrators to so far evade justice.

Wyatt was indicted three years ago while in his home country and was only extradited to the U.S. in 2019 following legal battles to keep him on British soil. While in Britain, he served 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to 20 counts of fraud as well as identity document and blackmail offenses.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Asus’ new RTX 4090 shattered GPU overclocking records, and you’ll be able to buy it soon
Asus ROG Matrix RTX 4090 graphics card.

If you thought that the RTX 4090 was already the best we'll see in this generation, Asus is here to prove you wrong. Nearly a year after the initial launch of Nvidia's top graphics card, Asus is about to release the ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 4090 -- a one-of-a-kind GPU that already has a new world record under its belt.

ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics Card

Read more
Watch this incredible slow-motion footage of a rocket engine test
A screenshot from the Slo Mo Guys' footage of a rocket engine test.

The Slow Mo guys -- aka Gavin Free and Daniel Gruchy -- are back with another video that’s as fascinating as it is entertaining, this one showing a rocket engine test in astonishing, slowed down, detail.

The popular YouTubers traveled from the U.K. to Texas to point their slow-motion camera toward a test of Firefly Aerospace’s Reaver engine.

Read more
The latest Windows Update is reportedly causing Starfield problems
A man walking into a dusty town on another planet in starfield.

If you've installed the latest Windows 11 update and you've been experiencing all sorts of issues ever since, you're not alone And if you're still yet to install it, it's probably best hold off on it for now. Many users have been reporting problems following the recent update, including crashes, slowdowns, and blue screens of death (BSOD). Gamers appear to be affected most of all, with some reporting stuttering in Starfield and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. 

Following the latest update released on Patch Tuesday, various reports of problems started pouring in across social media and Microsoft's Feedback Hub. Microsoft itself hasn't spoken up about this yet, but considering the number of reported issues, we could soon hear an official comment on the situation. If you've already installed the update and aren't experiencing problems, you have nothing to worry about. If you have installed and are encountering issues, it's best to revert to the previous version and reach out through the Feedback Hub.

Read more