No, contrary to a sudden flurry of loosely-sourced articles in the hacker and Muslim press, Hamza Bendelladj aka Bx1, spammer and co-creator of the SpyEye virus, has not been sentenced to death by a US jury.
In fact, he hasn’t been sentenced at all. And he’ll never stand in front of a jury, having already pled guilty.
Here’s an example of the hysterical outcry, from an article calling him a “Muslim HERO!”
News of the execution of the Algerian hacker, Hamza Bendeladj [sic], by the US authorities sparked a large controversy on social media, as some activists launched a campaign of support and solidarity “We are all Hamza”, in which they called on the authorities to mediate for saving the life of “Algeria’s genius”, who stunned the world through hacking Israeli websites and banks, and offers their funds to the Palestinian people.
Funds which he and his SpyEye trojan took from victims all over the world.
The US ambassador to Algeria has taken to Twitter to beat back the death sentence allegations, stating that none of the crimes with which he’s been charged are punishable by death, and that his sentencing will be later this year.
In case your French is rusty, that says “1/2 Bendelladj Hamza pleaded guilty June 26 for having developed, distributed, and monitored a malicious SpyEye banking Trojan.”
And this one says “2/2 The verdict will take place in a few months. Computer crimes are not capital crimes and are not punished by the death penalty” but is more notable for the fight she got into with a skeptical commenter who vowed to shave his moustache if she was right and he was wrong. No update on the moustache situation, but it does add a glorious touch of farce to what was already at least broad comedy.
There’s already a Facebook group, All Against the Death Sentence of Hamza, whose URL misspells his name, but at 112 members it’s hardly a social media juggernaut.
The Algerian was arrested in Thailand and extradited to the US in 2013, charged with one count of conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and 11 counts of computer fraud. You can see the original indictment here (PDF). On June 26 of this year he pled guilty to so the future is not looking rosy for him, but none of those are capital crimes, so the death penalty is simply off the table, unless he killed someone recently and we didn’t hear about it.
The 2013 FBI report of his arrest in Thailand says “If convicted, Bendelladj faces a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud; up to 20 years for each wire fraud count; up to five years for conspiracy to commit computer fraud; up to five or 10 years for each count of computer fraud; and fines of up to $14 million.”
Instead, along with his partner he made a plea bargain in which he took responsibility for creating and distributing SpyEye, a virus designed to capture online banking information from unsuspecting individuals’ infected computers. The operation was professional and efficient, if highly illegal, and included a strong marketing push on dark markets, dedicated customer service, and optional software customization. According to the DA of the Northern District of Georgia, where he faces these charges, “Until dismantled, SpyEye was the preeminent malware banking Trojan from 2010-2012.”
It should be no surprise that an admitted spammer with millions at his fingertips should be portrayed as a martyr in the press leading up to his sentencing: heck, Donald Trump is being portrayed as a legitimate political candidate. But no, he will not actually be martyred, by lethal injection, electrocution, or any of the other options the United States has at its disposal. He will simply sit in prison and wait for his fate to be decided.
Categories: Black Hat, Breaking, Court Cases, Crime, Cyber, Dark Web, FBI, Hackers, Hacktivism, Hamza Bellandj, Humor, Journalists, Malware, Media, News, SpyEye, Trojan
I am from Algeria and I assure you that the news is not true.
Freedom’s for #HamzaBendelladj #حمزة_بن_دلاج
Fuck USA
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Nice photoshop. It does not lend credibility to anything you might claim; quite the opposite.
I am not sure, from your English, whether you’re saying the news he’s sentenced to death is not true (which is correct) or the news he’s sentenced to death IS true (which is incorrect).
Many media outlets, particularly in Algeria and India, got this story wrong. It’s time to set the record straight.
There is, after all, no way they’d merely imprison people like Jeremy Hammond if the death penalty was an option for hacking cases. They don’t really care so much about some spammers and fraudsters who are just in it for the money.
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NOT FUCK USA…NO ONE HERE IS THE BAD GUY OUR GOVERNMENT IS BAD…SO FUCK THEM THE PEOPLE DONT CARE BOUT YOU OR WHERE YER FROM YA IDIOT
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Fuck off yank. No one likes you.
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lol then why do ya’ll keep moving to our country? you jelly of the yanks country
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Well, technically he didn’t move there. He was extradited to face trial.
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Everybody hates the US, but they all keep coming here.
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Well Bendelladj didn’t have any choice, having been arrested and extradited.
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Look u need to stop saying bad words its not need. At least he is a hero. At least he doesnt kill anyone he helped the people. He not a killer or a druger or a women lady he is the hero for use.
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No, anybody is allowed to say bad words here. What is not permitted is lies, like calling Bendelladj a hero: he is only a hero to those who believe the lies he paid his PR to spread about him.
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Suck my ass..he a hero..biyatch!
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Tried to like your comment but couldn’t. So I like.
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.-. No one cares about anyone here(we re humans), of course fuck USA’s government, and of course not people! i mean execept government people and people who support govenment |[:]
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No offense, but you seem deranged.
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Hamza Bendelladj is a HERO!!! He donated 280 million to Palestine and donated to Africa!!
HE IS A HERO!
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Actually I can find no evidence that he did any such thing.
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are you that stupid?? just use google yourself.
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new age robinhood
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Robin Hood robbed the rich to feed the poor.
This guy was robbing regular people, and the “sending money to Africa” bit seems to be a fabrication. Wouldn’t be surprised, as most phishing/malware writers aren’t into the whole altruistic stuff at all.
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Yeah I can’t find any reference to him doing hacktivism or donations prior to his arrest. None.
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Palestine is not in Africa!
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africa is a continent, like america. palestine is a country, like usa. source: elementary school.
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Palestine belongs to Asia.
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Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, fool.
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Palestine belongs to Israel, no?
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Not for long, as long as the Jewish agenda continues
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America belongs to Israhell…you know the country that is largest Drone manufacturer.
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If the bank really wants to pay the people ,it could definitely do that with the amount of profits it makes.
What,all the 217banks couldnt even be able to pay the 280m USD ?
If the individual head of bank owns crores of profits then that’s not a fault but if a person gives the same money that could help lakhs of people ,what’s this then
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Fucking pointless comment award
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Gay
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Aren’t those people rich for those poor african and Palestinian people and I don’t know what’s wrong with you fucking Yankees
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No, he hired a PR firm to say he gave a ton of money away, but there’s no proof he actually did.
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yep cause they may need him, there’s an opportunity for them to use a young genuis guy to acheive something as we kno, we all kno the relation”ship” between USA n israel so touching the safety of israel is unwanted and unacceptable for that country, anyway if you think hacking someones accounts or payloading from theire consoles and hijacking is easy as a programmer i think you re really spetial, not talking about creating a trojan that could get you 400million USD from people “individually” (mentionning that those people using banks to store theire amounts lol), about if he a hero !? yes of course he s a hero not a fake one such as (Captain america) he’s his nation hero, maybe muslims n arabs hero n everyone that support freedom to palastine. saying fuck america is mercifull than saying lets get Oil.
and Yes!! Social Media brain-washing people. 9/11
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What a hero i hope we will get one billion people like him.
i whish him a good furture. And my allah save him from Kufaar
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yes he is not a hacker he was a entertainer who entertained thousands or families we love his sooo much he is my hero i wish US to hand me instead of him cuz world need him. He didnt only help muslims he help humanity he helped dying people and childerns in africa and other countries he was a real human his smile was killing me like he was saying go ahead kill me if u can cuz i will always live in the hearts of people
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Did ya miss the part where he’s not being killed, and he IS a hacker?
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can’t you understand that he is already dead for his fans? that’s the way they like him. in fact, they (the fans) might take him out to make the story true. :P
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He is not a hacker
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Yes, actually he is a hacker.
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Being a hacker isnt easy god damn it!! xD
thanx for mentionning that he s a hacker
What Is a Hacker?
The Jargon File contains a bunch of definitions of the term ‘hacker’, most having to do with technical adeptness and a delight in solving problems and overcoming limits. If you want to know how to become a hacker, though, only two are really relevant.
There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you’re a hacker.
The hacker mind-set is not confined to this software-hacker culture. There are people who apply the hacker attitude to other things, like electronics or music — actually, you can find it at the highest levels of any science or art. Software hackers recognize these kindred spirits elsewhere and may call them ‘hackers’ too — and some claim that the hackernature is really independent of the particular medium the hacker works in. But in the rest of this document we will focus on the skills and attitudes of software hackers, and the traditions of the shared culture that originated the term ‘hacker’.
There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren’t. These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking thephone system. Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn’t make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end.
The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.
If you want to be a hacker, keep reading. If you want to be a cracker, go read the alt.2600 newsgroup and get ready to do five to ten in the slammer after finding out you aren’t as smart as you think you are. And that’s all I’m going to say about crackers.
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im Algerian , and find it funny how people are “proud” everywhere in the Internet of a criminal who is literally just a scamer ( he may not be able to discover a simple vulnerability) , STEAL money from random people , what if it was you the victim and you worked so hard to get this money and have offsprings ? GO educate yourselves .
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U R a fucking bustard
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Shita everywhere , terba7 ch3ar ;)
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you do know the banks must pay those people back right? and if you feel sorry for the banks your an idiot
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Newsflash:
The bank doesn’t pay back, the insurance does, because their deposits and loans are insured, and the insurance company raises the premium on Everybody in order to cover for those loses, so no, its not the bank that pays, its just the regular people in the end that pay for everything.
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YOU ARE A FOOL FOR SAYING THAT, YOU ARE SO IGNORANT YOU FOOLISH ALGERIAN, GO READ THE HISTORY OF THE JP MORGAN CHASE BANK AND YOU WILL KNOW HOW MUCH FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES GOES ON IN THE BANK AND HOW THE BANK ITSELF STEALS THEIR CUSTOMERS MONEY EVEN WITHOUT A SINGLE HACKER BEING INVOLVED, WHAT IF IT WAS UR BROTHER WHO WAS HANGED FOR AN OFFENCE NOT PUNISHABLE BY DEATH, YOU DESERVE TO DIE FOR YOUR SINS TOO… READ@READ!
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Please take the capslock key off and read the article, if you’re so fond of reading. Nobody was hanged. Idiot.
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It is wrong for Hamza to steal and give to the pore ppl and it is right for America to steal our oil and to put her noise in our pesnes saying that’s she’s saving us or that there is a wopen on masse destruction and she’s never found !
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The point is, there’s no evidence he DID give any money to poor people.
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Ive heard that Captain America is on the way to save USA “government” from being humiliated by evil and transformed aliens from iraq
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hamza you stay always in my heart , America need your experience
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luxor, i think u are forgetting the fact that are all israelis who he stole the money from , are actually land gabbing thieves who ripp off the world, in this, u r punished in groups and in majorit, u r only punished individually in the hereafter.Those who snatched the land of those muslims who never even started war with them, yet gave them space
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He stole money from EVERYWHERE, don’t kid yourself. Trojans are not selective for religion.
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👍👍😂😂
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Israel is not a country but saying israelis means the people who lives in palastine n think theyre living in a country called “israel”
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May Allah send u back to your mum as soon as possible
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Fck u sn btch
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u smm upst
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The guy is a genius.
He should be offered a security Job as a consultant for the
Us governement, banks and other large companies.
This will eliminate at least 10 billion dollars losses over a a couple of years.
Unfortunately Algeria does not have a structure in place to
Promote and guide people like Hamza. erudits witz exceptional capabilities.
In the US, he will be given the right reward for his knowledge and capabilities.
One should see in what conditions Hamza has learned his
craft & where he is coming from.
One thing to add and to be understood by everyone here.
Algerians are unique and different from All the other Arab/Islamic people of Africa or Middle east.
Algeria is the only country in the arabo-islamic world that fought for it’s independance resulting in 1&1/2 million people dying .
As such, Algerians are against any injustice in this world and against any opression on anyone and for basic freedom & dignity of the individuals ( aka obtaining a Visa to travel ….).
Americans will be smart enough to leverage Hamza outstanding competencies & skill to protect US interests such as Banks, industrial spying & cyber attacks.
No matter what, Hamza will never accept to work for activities that are more on the attacking side.
We love to hear about Algerians that are contributing to Justice, Peace and improvenent or security in this world .
Guys like Hamza should be hired by Google or similar companies dealing a lot with security :-) This is where he will shine and feel considered as a human being and rewarded for his knowledge.
As far as ethics,he will also learn this part as well.
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criminal o no, no es lo que importa el dinero va y viene, pero condenar a muerte a una persona por esto es una muestra del sisitema tan creul en el que vivimos =(
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That’s an important genius !! No authority should touch to him. Use him for intelligence services …
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And they could trust him for what reason?
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They wish xDD
muslims have a strong pride
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I see nothing that Algerians are better then the other people as you are advertising your co-nationals.
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Será lembrado como um herói, não cabe a nós julga-lo. Cabe a Deus este papel. Tem minha admiração desde já. O mundo tem salvação sim, depende apenas de ações como esta.
Ame o próximo como a si mesmo.
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The hero he is the one god protected u and see your family. I would like to know what jail is he in? Answer my question thank u
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Hé is not a hero and isreal it is for u ? At least he didn’t kill ppl like islreal and America did .. U know what I am talking about ur a killer for Arabic ppl cz u want to steal our oil
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to all of you that thick he’s a crime, like seriously u all are dumb, he’s a heroe to we Africans, you this stupid heartless Americans owe us a lot. u trade our forefathers as slave u molest our foremother and turn them to your sex machine, you deprived them of many right, you stole almost all our mineral resources. and u still count yourself as government of the government you trick country like Libya to kill their benefactor “Gaddafi” RIP to a loyal man, and put the whole nation in disaster. And here comes Hamza the avenger whose gonna make you pay for all this inhuman act. if u like sentence him to death all we know is that he will forever live on and watch out there’s more to come from Africans we will never give up until we damage half of your continent….
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Who’s an American? and why is he a hero?
And, more importantly, why have you CLEARLY not read the article?
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You look an israelian we get it (or maybe someone without origin) Did hamza chuncked from your paypal or smthn xD
anyway USA (government) is the biggest israel, americans have no relation with politics, yeah living in a country such as US, like “who give a fuk about what happening out there” . H1B
US n technologie? check this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM
as well as you cant judge the “retarded” countries thanx to “evolved” countries who occupated them n caused the largest number of deaths all time (WW1, WW2)
religion? oh please… Hitler,Roosevelt,Churchill, rasputine, bush, nikita khrushchev, sam smith (who tried to end muslims using a nuclear describing it as the only solution that could help (2005) because of the 9/11 xD) those werent Religious they were at least Atheists (bush was with the 322 xD) n they caused deaths like never before.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alan-lurie/is-religion-the-cause-of-_b_1400766.html
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