A 21-year old woman named Diana Lebeau was arrested from Rhode Island for sending phishing emails to over 43 politicians and staff from the United States in January 2020- just 8 months ahead of the US Polls 2020.
Her intention was clear, to steal credentials and then infiltrate into the computer network of those politicians to access classical documents related to their election campaigns.
It is learned that Ms. Diana sent phishing emails to the politicians by impersonating as a member of the help desk from Microsoft’s Security Team. Her emails asked the victims to enter credentials into spreadsheets attached to emails or were asked to enter the details into a website that seemed like a legitimate web page of Microsoft.
Diana’s cyber fraud story did not end over here as she allegedly launched another phishing campaign targeting an employee from the then-presidential office in March 2020. She asked the employee to submit some sensitive details that were later on used to steal online chats of some politicians belonging to over 3 states.
After the legal charges were pressed against her, it was found that her intent behind the phishing campaign was not motivated to gain financially or politically and was not found to be a state-funded cyber attack.
Hence, for fraudulently accessing a protected network, there is a high probability that she will face a sentence of up to 14 months in prison or a supervised release for up to 11 months after paying a penalty of $100,000.
