Mass. college student pleads guilty to hacking, extortion conspiracy

WORCESTER, Mass. (WLNE) — An Assumption University student has agreed to plead guilty on charges he helped hack millions of records and held them for ransom.

According to the Department of Justice, 19-year-old Matthew Lane of Sterling, Massachusetts will plead guilty on cyber extortion and conspiracy charges.

According to the DOJ’s release, Lane and others extorted $200,000 from a telecommunications company between April and May of 2024.

Prosecutors said Lane and his group also hacked a cloud storage company that serves schools in the United States and Canada, and held “Personally identifying information” for thousands of teachers and students at a $2.8 million ransom.

A plea hearing for Lane has not been set.