Man Jailed for Hacking the Emails of Female Students, Stealing and Trading their Private Photos

Colin Thierry Colin Thierry

A man was sentenced last week to over 9 years in jail after he was found guilty of breaking into the email accounts of his female classmates, and stealing their private nude photographs and videos.

Michael Fish, 26, of Albany, N.Y., has been sentenced to 111 months in prison after being convicted of computer fraud, aggravated identity theft, and possession of child abuse material.

Fish previously admitted to hacking into the email accounts of more than 100 female classmates at SUNY-Plattsburgh, and then later at Albany Law School. He exploited the information that he discovered there in order to break into their social media accounts.

Fish then traded the stolen nude photos and videos of his victims with others.

Additionally, he created and shared collages that displayed sexually explicit images of individuals alongside their graduation photographs, while identifying them by name.

Once the security breach was discovered, SUNY-Plattsburgh spent thousands of dollars investigating the full scale of the issue. They reviewed computer and server access logs, identified which accounts had been compromised, reset passwords, and notified pupils and their parents.

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino sentenced Fish to 111 months in prison for his crimes, and imposed a 15-year term of supervised release (which will start after he is released from prison). Additionally, Fish has been told to pay $35,430 in restitution to SUNY-Plattsburgh.

Another man, named Nichola Faber, admitted his involvement in Fish’s hacking scheme and the trading of stolen images. He was sentenced to three years in prison in August 2021.

In late 2021, Fish allegedly attempted to deceive the judge overseeing his case by forging a letter seeking leniency.

As a result, Fish was arrested in December for violating the conditions of his release. More specifically, he used “a computer without authorization in connection with fabricating a character letter that he caused to be submitted to the court in connection with his sentencing.”

About the Author

About the Author

Colin Thierry is a former cybersecurity researcher and journalist for SafetyDetectives who has written a wide variety of content for the web over the past 2 years. In his free time, he enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, watching sports, and playing video games.