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Yahoo engineer admits hacking user accounts to search for sexual images

By Nicholas Sakelaris
The former Yahoo engineer faces five years in prison, prosecutors said. File Photo by Mohammad Kheirkhah/UPI 
The former Yahoo engineer faces five years in prison, prosecutors said. File Photo by Mohammad Kheirkhah/UPI  | License Photo

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A former Yahoo software engineer has pleaded guilty to hacking thousands of user accounts searching for sexual images, authorities said.

Reyes Daniel Ruiz admitted to using his Yahoo access to hack into 6,000 accounts that belonged to younger women, including friends and colleagues, U.S. Attorney David Anderson said. From there, he used their credentials to access iCloud, Facebook, Gmail, DropBox and other online accounts.

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Court records show he performed the hacks in May and June of 2018.

"Ruiz cracked user passwords, and accessed internal Yahoo systems to compromise the Yahoo accounts," Anderson said in a statement. "He made copies of images and videos that he found in the personal accounts without permission, and stored the data at his home."

Ruiz, 34, destroyed the computer and hard drive that contained the stolen materials, Anderson said.

Ruiz faces as many as five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on a single count of computer intrusion. He was released on a $200,000 bond until his Feb. 3 sentencing.

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