Former Ubiquiti Developer Sentenced to Six Years for Data Theft and Extortion Nickolas Sharp, a former senior developer of Ubiquiti, has been handed a six-year prison sentence for stealing company data, attempting to extort his employer, and spreading misleading news articles that had a significant impact on the firm’s market capitalization. Sharp posed as an anonymous hacker, demanding a substantial payment in Bitcoin from Ubiquiti after a data breach.
When his demands were not met, he posed as a whistleblower to the media, disseminating false information about the incident. As a result, Ubiquiti’s stock price plummeted by 20%, resulting in market capitalization losses exceeding $4 billion.
In December 2021, Sharp was arrested and charged with data theft and extortion. Despite attempting to cover his tracks by clearing logs and using a VPN to hide his IP address, a temporary internet outage exposed his location, leading to his discovery.
Following multiple attempts to mislead FBI investigators, Sharp ultimately pleaded guilty to transmitting a program that caused intentional damage, wire fraud, and making false statements to the FBI.
Despite the potential maximum sentence of 37 years, the Southern District Court of New York imposed a six-year prison term on Sharp, along with three years of supervised release and the requirement to pay restitution totaling $1,590,487.
The severity of the sentence reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed by the former Ubiquiti employee and serves as a warning against such malicious activities that can have far-reaching consequences for individuals and organizations alike.
