Hacker Who Targeted Texas DPS Pleads Guilty

A hacker who targeted the Texas Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement computers then bragged about it has pleaded guilty.

No sentencing date was immediately set for 30-year-old Higinio O. Ochoa III of Galveston, who faces up to five years in prison. Ochoa on June 25 appeared before a federal judge in Austin and pleaded guilty to accessing a protected computer without authorization.

Investigators say Ochoa in February hacked into computers operated by Texas DPS, the West Virginia Chiefs of Police Association, the Alabama Department of Public Safety and Houston County, Ala.

Officials say the Texan downloaded personal information, deleted data and defaced websites, then boasted about it. Prosecutors say Ochoa claimed to be part of a group known as Anonymous.