A federal court sentenced Ahmad Umar Agha (Th3Pr0) to 42 months in prison for his role in the Syrian Electronic Army conspiracy.
Operating since 2011, the group compromised dozens of Western media outlets, businesses, and government entities through credential theft and targeted phishing campaigns.
Ahmad Umar Agha, known online as “Th3Pr0,” operated as part of a group known as the Syrian Electronic Army. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the plot was organized and led by members of Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, including the country’s intelligence chief.
How the attacks started
The group began its operations in 2011, sending fraudulent emails to steal employee passwords. With this information, the group members defaced websites, redirected user traffic, and gained access to social media accounts.
Agha's most famous act occurred in April 2013, when the group gained access to the account of a prominent news agency and posted a false message that then-US President Barack Obama had been injured. The post caused a temporary $136 billion drop in stock value.
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Agha later admitted in an interview that the market crash was the goal of this attack. Court documents show that he participated in attacks on about 47 Western media outlets, businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies.
Targets and economic losses
Among other things, the hacker managed to break into the company that hosts the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting website, affecting about 3.500 visitors. He also tried twice to take control of the White House social media accounts, stealing staff passwords, but no official accounts were affected.
These attacks caused significant financial losses to victims, who had to spend large sums to clean their systems and upgrade their security. One non-profit organization lost $480.000, while a content delivery company lost approximately $35.000 per day for six months.
Agha was initially charged in 2014, and in 2016 he was added to the FBI's Most Wanted List with a $100.000 reward, and was indicted in 2018. He appeared in a US court in late 2025 after being taken into US custody. One of his co-defendants, Firas Dardar, remains a fugitive, while another co-defendant, Peter Romar, was extradited to the US and pleaded guilty in 2016.
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