Ordinarily cybercriminals are very tough to track down, meaning sentencing one is a rare occasion. However, one of 2016’s most popular cybercriminals, known by his handle Guccifer, has been caught and sentenced to 52 months in prison. The Romanian hacker is responsible for exposing Hillary Clinton’s use of her private email by hacking into one of her political advisor’s accounts.
Guccifer’s non-cyber identity is Marcel Lehel Lazar, a 44-year old Romanian cab driver who was recently extradited to the U.S. after conducting the cybercrimes from his home country. Lazar has since pleaded guilty to identity theft and federal hacking charges, according to a recent Ars Technica article. Guccifer, who has been quite vocal about his hacking accomplishments, has taken credit for about 100 compromised American email accounts, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, family members of the Bush Presidents and the aforementioned Clinton political advisor, Sidney Blumenthal. Since the sentence, a new hacker with the handle of Guccifer 2.0 has emerged and taken credit for hacking the DNC earlier this year as well as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Guccifer 2.0 is suspected of having ties with the Russian government and is likely not affiliated with the original Guccifer.