Man pleads guilty to hacking nearly 600 women’s Snapchat accounts – Bleeping Computer

An Illinois man pleaded guilty to hacking nearly 600 women’s Snapchat accounts to steal nude photos that he kept, sold, or traded online, including accounts he compromised at the request of a former university track coach who was later convicted of sextortion. 26-year-old defendant Kyle Svara admitted in federal court in Boston to phishing access codes from hundreds of victims between May 2020 and February 2021, and accessed at least 59 Snapchat accounts without permission to download private photos. According to court documents, Svara used social engineering tactics to obtain victims’ emails, phone numbers, and Snapchat usernames, then texted more than 4,500 targets requesting access codes while impersonating Snap representatives. Using these tactics, he successfully harvested credentials from roughly 570 victims and accessed at least 59 accounts without permission to steal compromising images. Svara advertised his “services” on multiple online platforms, trading stolen content, offering to “get into girls snap accounts” for clients, and asking potential clients to contact him through the encrypted messaging app Kik. One of his clients, former Northeastern University track and field coach Steve Waithe, hired Svara to hack Snapchat accounts of students at Northeastern and members of the women’s track and field and soccer teams.
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