Three Latvian computer hackers who pleaded guilty to helping in an extortion plot against the Great Falls investment firm D.A. Davidson will be deported, the Great Falls Tribune reports.
The firm’s computers were hacked some time between Dec. 20, 2007, and Jan. 11, 2008. The hacker, who remains on the loose, accessed financial records belonging to 226,000 of D.A. Davidson customers and then demanded $80,000 in exchange for revealing the security holes that let him in.
The hacker, identified only as John Doe, aka Robert Borko, also said he would destroy confidential information he obtained in exchange for the money.
The three Latvian men, who were vacationing at the time, were recruited to pick up the extortion money, which is where authorities arrested them.
The Tribune reports that the computer break-in led to a class action lawsuit against D.A. Davidson in which the plaintiffs accused the company of not protecting their private information.
The case settlement makes $1 million available to plaintiffs who suffer identity theft as a result of the hacking. D.A. Davidson was also recently fined $375,000 for failing to protect customer information from hackers.