Case Review
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United States v. Anonymous Defendant (Unauthorized Data Access)

Former social media company employee accused of accessing and selling user data after termination. Defendant allegedly sold personal information of 500,000 users to data brokers.

Charges
  • •Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Violation (18 USC § 1030)
  • •Wire Fraud (18 USC § 1343)
  • •Identity Theft (18 USC § 1028)
Case Facts
Review the established facts of this case
  • 1Defendant worked as data engineer at major social media platform until January 2024
  • 2Company terminated defendant's employment on January 15, 2024
  • 3Defendant's access credentials were not immediately deactivated
  • 4Between January 16-25, 2024, defendant accessed user database 47 times
  • 5Defendant downloaded personal data of 500,000 users including emails, phone numbers, locations
  • 6Defendant sold data to three data broker companies for total of $125,000
  • 7Company discovered breach during routine security audit on January 30
  • 8Digital forensics traced unauthorized access to defendant's home IP address
  • 9Defendant used personal laptop and VPN to access company systems
  • 10Defendant claims they were collecting data for legitimate research project
  • 11No evidence of research project found
  • 12Affected users experienced increase in spam, phishing attempts, and identity theft
Your Verdict
Based on the evidence and applicable law, what is your verdict?