Robert Purbeck, who used the online aliases “Lifelock” and “Studmaster,” pleaded guilty to federal charges of computer fraud this week. He was accused of hacking the computer systems of the City of Newnan, Georgia and a medical clinic in Griffin, Georgia.
According to prosecutors, the 44-year-old Meridian resident purchased stolen login credentials on the dark web in 2017 to hack into the Griffin medical clinic’s servers. He then used the stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access into computers of the medical clinic and stole medical records and other documents, which contained sensitive personal information of more than 43,000 individuals, including names, addresses, birthdates, and social security numbers.
Again in early 2018, Robert Purbeck purchased access to a city of Newnan Police Department server on a darknet marketplace. Then used these stolen credentials to hack into the city’s computer systems and steal records consisting of police reports and documents.
The FBI raided Purbeck’s home in 2019, they seized multiple computers and devices containing personal of more than 132,000 individuals, the data were obtained from at least 17 other data breaches he committed nationwide.
As part of his plea deal, Purbeck has agreed to pay over $1 million in restitution to his many victims. He faces sentencing in June and could receive a lengthy prison term.
