Canadian Hacker Pleads Guilty After Breaching 165 Organizations, Extorting Victims
A Canadian man pleaded guilty to his role in a widespread cyber hacking and extortion scheme that resulted in at least 165 organizations being compromised, billions of customer records being accessed, and the extortion of numerous victims.
Prosecutors say 26-year-old Connor Riley Moucka and his co-conspirators used stolen login credentials to steal cloud-hosted data from a software-as-a-service company, which was identified by news organizations as Snowflake. The data belonged to Snowflake customers who did not have multi-factor authentication at the time, including companies like Ticketmaster, AT&T, Lending Tree, Neiman Marcus, and Advance Auto Parts.
The breach resulted in the hackers obtaining access to billions of customer records including Social Security numbers, financial information, driver’s license numbers, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration numbers, call and text records, and other data.
The group then extorted the victims by threatening to publish their information online unless payments were made, netting at least $2.5 million in ransom payments. The group also earned an additional $495,000 by selling the stolen data online.
Prosecutors say Moucka also attempted to threaten and harass government officials who were trying to track him down. He allegedly attempted to extort one victim – a government official– twice.
“Connor Moucka’s threats and re-extortion tactics were calculated and predatory, and his actions did real harm to his victims, be they companies targeted for theft and extortion or the millions of everyday people who are their customers,” said FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington.
Moucka – who was arrested in November 2024 in Ontario and extradited to the U.S. in July 2025– pleaded guilty to four counts of the indictment, including computer fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and a related conspiracy.
“His guilty plea highlights the FBI’s commitment to protecting American businesses and consumers from cybercrime and reflects our strong partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other international law enforcement agencies,” said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman.
Sentencing is scheduled on October 27. Moucka faces a minimum of two years for the aggravated identity theft and a maximum of 30 years for the remaining counts.
The FBI led the investigation.
