A man arrested following the raid of the notorious cybercrime forum Darkode has been sentenced to one year and one day in jail for his activities on the site.

Rory Stephen Guidry, 29, of Opelousas, Louisiana, was sentenced on one count of obtaining information by computer from a protected computer after pleading guilty as part of a plea deal back in February.

Guidry was alleged to have hacked into and controlled more than 5,000 computers, and then attempted to sell his Botnet on Darkode.

In addition, Guidry was accused of stealing $80,000 in Bitcoin as well as hacking another computer to steal more than 5,000 active credit card accounts, the latter of which he was in possession of then he was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“Cybercrime threatens anyone and everyone in our ever-increasingly internet-connected world,” United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said in a statement. “Computer criminals will not be able to hide or maintain their anonymity, and they will be prosecuted locally, nationally and internationally. Through coordinated responses and international cooperation of our law enforcement partners, defendants such as Mr. Guidry who are involved in computer hacking forums will see their organizations dismantled and individuals prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Not forgotten

Prior to its original closure (a successor version is currently either planned or up and running), Darkode ran as a meeting place for more elite hackers where those people could discuss the darker arts of hacking, as well as also being able to sell software and related tools.

The site was closed following global law enforcement raids in 20 countries in July 2015 that resulted in the arrest of around 70 people, including 12 people in the United States.

Guidry’s case is the first to result in a jail sentence; Eric Crocker, a Binghamton, New York man who had previously pleaded guilty to a sole charge laid under the CAN-SPAM Act was subsequently given two years probation earlier this month.

In addition to his one year, one day prison sentence, Guidry will face three years of supervised release.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons/ Public Domain