An Alabama man has been sentenced to spend six months in prison for illegally accessing the personal information of over fifty women. For over two years, Kevin Maldonado engaged in a hacking technique called “phishing,” creating fake email accounts impersonating email providers and requesting numerous women to change their email passwords. He was then able to obtain passwords and access private information, including personal photographs. Maldonado then stored the stolen information on his personal computer. Maldonado pleaded guilty in February 2017 to computer intrusion, and was sentenced to six months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Although extensive, Maldonado’s phishing technique is a common strategy employed by hackers to gain personal information. Phishing scams are fraudulent email messages that appear to come from legitimate sources. In 2016, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, there were more than 19,000 victims of phishing and related scams. Email users can guard against these scams by verifying information sent in emails, like the name of the company, sender and url links embedded in the email message. Personal firewalls and security software can provide even more protection if needed.

To view information from the SEC on protection from phishing scams, click here.

To view the U.S. Attorney’s press release click here.