A man from Oregon has been sentenced to three years in prison for selling tools for hacking cable modems, the U.S. Department of Justice has revealed.

Ryan Harris, 29, or Redmond, Oregon, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf in the District of Massachusetts on March 1, 2012 on seven counts of wire fraud for his participation in a scheme to help thousands steal internet service, the agency said in a post on its website.

Furthermore, the man will also have to pay a fine of $50,000 and restitution of $152,370.

Harris was convicted of having distributed products enabling users to steal internet service through his company called TCNISO.

The DOJ wrote in its report that:

“From 2003 through 2009, Harris developed and distributed hardware and software tools that allowed his customers to modify their cable modems so that they could disguise themselves as paying subscribers and obtain Internet service without paying.  The products included a ‘packet sniffer,’ which Harris dubbed ‘Coax Thief.’  ‘Coax Thief’ surreptitiously intercepted (or ‘sniffed’) Internet traffic so that the user obtained the media access control addresses and configuration files of surrounding modems.  TCNISO and Harris also offered ongoing customer support, primarily through forums hosted on the TCNISO website, to assist customers in their cable modem hacking activities.  Harris gained $400,000 to $1 million in sales revenue.”

Harris has also authored a book called Hacking the Cable Modem: What Cable Companies Don’t Want You to Know.

Image from Lord Biro on Flickr (CC)

About Solon Harmony Dolor

A passion for technology and journalism makes this upcoming writer very interested in social media and technology news. Fresh from finishing an English and Journalism degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, he aims to bring interesting news to our readers .