Syrian sentenced to 42 months in US prison for pro-Assad hacking

WASHINGTON: A Syrian man was sentenced to 42 months in prison on Thursday for his role in computer hacking on behalf of the regime of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the US Justice Department said.

Ahmad Umar Agha, 32, and his co-conspirators hacked Western media outlets, businesses, non-governmental organisations and US and allied government entities "to spread the former Syrian government's propaganda", the department said in a statement.

The hacking group, known as the Syrian Electronic Army, was led by members of Assad's inner circle, it said.

"Agha deployed his hacking skills in the service of Assad's regime to silence reporting on the regime's atrocities, intimidate its opponents, and incite US servicemembers to refuse their orders," Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said.

The group's most notorious hack targeted a US news agency's Twitter account, resulting in a false tweet in 2013 claiming that then-president Barack Obama had been injured after two blasts at the White House.

"Agha's actions caused a flash crash in the US stock market, resulting in a temporary US$136 billion loss in the value of stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average," the Justice Department said.

Agha, also known as Th3Pro, was indicted along with an alleged co-conspirator, Firas Dardar, who remains a fugitive.

A third Syrian charged in the case, Peter Romar, was extradited to the United States and pleaded guilty to hacking charges in September 2016.