Ahmad Umar Agha — “Th3Pr0” taxallusi bilan tanilgan Suriy Elektron Armiyasi xakeri — G‘arb axborot agentliklarini nishonga olgan xakerlik fitnasidagi roli uchun AQSh federal sudi tomonidan 42 oy qamoq jazosiga hukm qilindi.
Fitna Suriyaning sobiq prezidenti Bashar al-Assadning yaqin doirasidagi a’zolar, jumladan Suriyaning Umumiy Razvedka Direktorati qo‘mondoni tomonidan tashkil etilgan va boshqarilgan, deb AQSh Adliya vazirligi 29-oktabrda ma’lum qildi.
Assad tarafdori Suriy Elektron Armiyasi 2011-yilda hujumlarini boshlagan. Uning a’zolari xodimlarning parollarini o‘g‘irlash uchun fishing elektron xatlarini yuborgan, so‘ngra o‘sha parollardan foydalanib veb-saytlarni buzib ko‘rsatgan, veb-trafikni yo‘naltirgan va ijtimoiy tarmoq akkauntlarini egallab olgan, deb 2014-yildagi FBI guvohnomasida aytilgan.
2013-yil 23-aprelda guruh Associated Pressning Twitter akkauntini egallab olgan va prezident Barak Obama Oq uyda sodir bo‘lgan ikki portlashda jarohat olgani haqida yolg‘on xabar e’lon qilgan.
O‘sha akkaunt uchun parolni qayta tiklashni tasdiqlovchi Twitter xabari asosan Agha tomonidan ishlatilgan Gmail akkauntiga yuborilgan, deb guvohnomada aytilgan.
Adliya vazirligi Agha o‘sha xakerlikni amalga oshirganini, bu esa Dow Jones Industrial Average indeksidagi aksiyalar qiymatining vaqtinchalik 136 milliard dollarga tushishiga sabab bo‘lganini aytdi. Agha keyinchalik Business Insiderga Dow indeksidagi katta pasayish “o‘sha xakerlik hujumining maqsadi edi” va bu “biz uchun katta g‘alaba” bo‘lganini aytgan.
Agha birinchi marta 2014-yil iyun oyida maxfiy qolgan shikoyatda ayblangan, bu shikoyat 2016-yil mart oyigacha oshkor qilinmagan. O‘sha oyda FBI uni va sherigi Firas Dardarni Kiber jinoyatchilar ro‘yxatiga 100 000 dollarlik mukofot bilan qo‘shgan. 2018-yil may oyida federal katta hay’at ikkala erkakni ayblagan.
Court Watch 2025-yil dekabr oyida Agha AQSh hibsida ekanligi va o‘tgan oyda federal sudda paydo bo‘lganini xabar qilgan.
Ish bo‘yicha uchta avvalgi ochiq hujjat — 2014-yildagi FBI guvohnomasi, Adliya vazirligining 2016-yil mart oyidagi ayblov e’lon qilishi va 2018-yil may oyidagi ayblov e’lon qilishi — suriyalik rasmiylar guruhni tashkil etgan yoki boshqarganini tasvirlamaydi.
2016-yilgi e’londa vazirlik guruh Suriy hukumatini “qo‘llab-quvvatlash maqsadida” harakat qilganini aytgan.
OpenNet Initiative tomonidan chop etilgan guruh haqidagi erta tadqiqot hujumchilarni Suriy hukumatiga bevosita bog‘lovchi ishonchli dalil topmagan, faqat har qanday bunday guruh Suriy tarmoqlarida faoliyat yuritishi uchun kerak bo‘ladigan yashirin qo‘llab-quvvatlashdan boshqa hech narsa topilmagan.
Jazo e’lon qilinayotganda vazirlik fitna Assad hukumatiga razvedka ma’lumotlarini to‘plaganini ham aytdi; bu hukumat 2024-yil dekabr oyida qulagan. “Agha xakerlik mahoratini Assad rejimiga xizmat qilish uchun ishlatdi — rejimning vahshiyliklari haqidagi xabarlarni bostirish, uning raqiblarini qo‘rqitish va AQSh harbiy xizmatchilarini buyruqlarini rad etishga undash uchun”, — dedi Milliy xavfsizlik bo‘yicha Bosh prokuror yordamchisi Jon A. Ayzenberg.
Umuman olganda, Agha taxminan 47 ta G‘arb axborot agentligi, biznes, notijorat guruhlar va AQSh hamda ittifoqchi hukumat organlarini xakerlagan, deb vazirlik aytdi.
U AQSh Dengiz piyodalari yollash veb-saytini joylashtirgan kompaniyaga kirib, uning tashrif buyuruvchilarini dengiz piyodalarini buyruqlarini rad etib, Suriy armiyasi bilan birga kurashishga chaqiruvchi rasmga yo‘naltirgan. Taxminan 3 500 potentsial tashrif buyuruvchi yollash materiallari o‘rniga o‘sha rasmni ko‘rgan.
Shuningdek, u Oq uy xodimlarining elektron pochta parollarini o‘g‘irlash orqali Oq uy ijtimoiy tarmoq akkauntlarini ikki marta egallab olishga uringan. Bir safar u xodim pochta qutisiga kirgan, ammo boshqa xodimlarni unga kirish huquqini berishga aldashda muvaffaqiyatsizlikka uchragan.
FBI guvohnomasi guruhning 2013-yil iyul oyida Oq uy xodimining shaxsiy elektron pochta akkauntiga kirganini tasvirlaydi va hech qanday rasmiy Oq uy akkaunti buzilmaganini aytadi.
Ko‘plab jabrlanuvchilar tozalash va xavfsizlikni yaxshilash uchun katta mablag‘ sarflagan, deb vazirlik tomonidan keltirilgan sud hujjatlarida aytilgan. Onlayn nashriyotchilarga kontent, reklama va havolalar yetkazib beradigan bir kompaniya taxminan olti oy davomida kuniga 35 000 dollar yo‘qotgan. Global notijorat guruh 480 000 dollar, jumladan yangi tarmoq monitoring vositalariga taxminan 250 000 dollar yo‘qotgan va 800 dan ortiq xodimni qayta o‘qitishga majbur bo‘lgan.
Dardar hanuz qochqin, deb vazirlik aytdi. U shuningdek, Germaniyada yashagan suriyalik milliy Peter Romar bilan alohida ishda ham ayblangan. Romar AQShga ekstraditsiya qilingan va 2016-yilda aybini tan olgan.
Ahmad Umar Agha, a Syrian Electronic Army hacker known online as "Th3Pr0," has been sentenced by a U.S. federal court to 42 months in prison for his role in a hacking conspiracy that targeted Western news outlets.
The conspiracy was organized and led by members of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, including the commander of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, the U.S. Justice Department said on October 29.
The pro-Assad Syrian Electronic Armybegan its attacks in 2011. Its members sent phishing emails to steal employees' passwords, then used those passwords to deface websites, redirect web traffic, and hijack social media accounts, according to a 2014 FBI affidavit.
On April 23, 2013, the group hijacked the Associated Press's Twitter account and posted a false report that President Barack Obama had been injured in two explosions at the White House.
Twitter's message confirming a password reset for that account was sent to a Gmail account used primarily by Agha, the affidavit says.
The Justice Department said Agha carried out that hack, which caused a temporary $136 billion drop in the value of stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Agha later told Business Insider that a big drop in the Dow "was our goal of that hack attack" and that "it was a big victory for us."
Agha was first charged in June 2014 in a complaint that remained secret until March 2016. That month, the FBI added him and co-defendant Firas Dardar to its Cyber's Most Wanted list with a $100,000 reward. A federal grand jury indicted both men in May 2018.
Court Watch reported in December 2025 that Agha was in U.S. custody and had appeared in federal court the month before.
Three earlier public documents in the case do not describe Syrian officials organizing or leading the group: the 2014 FBI affidavit, the Justice Department's March 2016 announcement of the charges, and its May 2018 announcement of the indictment.
In the 2016 announcement, the department said the group acted "in support of" the Syrian government.
An early study of the group, published by the OpenNet Initiative, found no credible evidence directly linking the attackers to the Syrian government beyond the unspoken support any such group would need to operate on Syrian networks.
In announcing the sentence, the department also said the conspiracy collected intelligence for Assad's government, which fell in December 2024. "Agha deployed his hacking skills in the service of Assad's regime to silence reporting on the regime's atrocities, intimidate its opponents, and incite U.S. servicemembers to refuse their orders," said John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
In all, Agha hacked about 47 Western media outlets, businesses, non-profit groups, and U.S. and allied government bodies, the department said.
He got into the company that hosted the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting website and redirected its visitors to an image urging Marines to refuse their orders and fight alongside the Syrian Army. About 3,500 potential visitors saw that image instead of recruiting material.
He also twice tried to take over the White House's social media accounts by stealing White House staff email passwords. Once, he got into staff email but failed to trick other staff into giving him access.
The FBI affidavit describes the group breaking into a White House staff member's personal email account in July 2013 and says no official White House account was compromised.
Many victims spent large sums on cleanup and security upgrades, according to court filings cited by the department. One company that supplies online publishers with content, ads, and links lost about $35,000 a day for about six months. A global non-profit group lost $480,000, including about $250,000 on new network monitoring tools, and had to retrain more than 800 staff members.
Dardar remains a fugitive, the department said. He was also charged in a separate case with Peter Romar, a Syrian national then living in Germany. Romar was extradited to the U.S. and pleaded guilty in 2016.
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