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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12-- A hacker behind a series of embarrassing hacks that targeted senior officials at the FBI, the CIA, and the White House among other U. S. federal agencies in 2017, has been sentenced to five years in prison. Justin Liverman, who was known under the online alias "D3F4ULT," was a member of a hacking group dubbed "Crackas With Attitude" that exposed the private online accounts of several top U.S. law enforcement officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano, and James Clapper, the former director of U.S. national intelligence at the time. He was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday, and will be forced to pay 145,000 U.S. dollars in restitution, local media reported. Liverman pleaded guilty on Jan. 6 this year to conspiracy to hack U.S. government computers and accounts. According to the plea agreement, "beginning in November 2017, Liverman conspired to attempt to intimidate and harass U.S. officials and their families by gaining unauthorized access to victims' online accounts, among other things." "Liverman publicly posted online documents and personal information unlawfully obtained from a victim's personal account; sent threatening text messages to the same victim's cellphone; and paid an unlawful 'phonebombing' service to call the victim repeatedly with a threatening message," U.S. prosecutors in the Eastern District Court of Virginia said. | 
