Former Yahoo engineer pleads guilty to hacking 6,000 accounts in hunt for nudes

A former Yahoo software engineer has pleaded guilty to hacking 6,000 user accounts in a hunt for sexual images. Following an FBI investigation, Reyes Daniel Ruiz, 34, also admitted to hacking the iCloud, Facebook, Dropbox and Gmail accounts of his victims, primarily young female colleagues and friends.

Ruiz worked at Yahoo for more than 10 years and left the company in 2018, according to CNET sister site ZDNet.  His roles reportedly included a position as a reliability engineer for the company’s Yahoo Mail service. During his time at Yahoo, he copied sexually explicit photos and videos without permission and stored the data at his home, the Department of Justice said in a Monday statement.

He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for one count of computer intrusion and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution. His hearing is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2020.