Worcester College Student Sentenced For Hacking, Extorting 2 Companies For Ransom

WORCESTER, MA — A former college student in Worcester has been sentenced to four years in prison for cyber extortion on Friday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Matthew D. Lane of Sterling, a former Assumption University student, was sentenced to four years in federal prison. He hacked the computer networks of two U.S.-based companies, stole millions of records containing personal information, and caused $14 million in damages, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.

Between April and May 2024, Lane and others agreed to extort a $200,000 ransom payment from a telecommunications company. They threatened to release data that was stolen from the company's computer network.

When the company asked if the ransom payment would end the threat of its data being leaked, Lane said, “We are the only ones with a copy of this data now. Stop this nonsense [or] your executives and employees will see the same fate . . . . Make the correct decision and pay the ransom. If you keep stalling, it will be leaked," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Later in the year, Lane used stolen login credentials to access the computer network of a second company, where he caused personal information of students and teachers to be transferred to a computer server Lane leased in Ukraine.

Then the company received threats that information on more than 60 million students and 10 million teachers would be leaked unless it paid a ransom of $2.85 million in Bitcoin.

He was sentenced to four years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $25,000, restitution of $14,075,540.58, and forfeiture, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

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