Hacking Case Linked to False Tweet Causing $136 Billion Stock Market Loss

The US Justice Department announced that Ahmad Umar Agha was sentenced to 42 months in prison for hacking Western media, businesses, and government entities on behalf of the regime of former Syrian president Bashar Assad. Agha and co-conspirators used the hacking group known as the Syrian Electronic Army to spread propaganda and silence reporting on regime atrocities. The group's most notable action was a false 2013 tweet claiming that Barack Obama had been injured after blasts at the White House.

The false tweet deployed by the hacking group caused a flash crash in the US stock market. This event resulted in a temporary loss of $136 billion in the value of stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.