Who is Cameron John Vignius? Solider Accused of Hacking Trump's Phone

A US Army soldier based in Texas has been charged with selling classified phone records, including material allegedly stolen from the president-elect. Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Newsweek The Trump and Harris campaigns were reached by email. Newsweek Also reached. Department of Justice For comments through the department’s web form.

Why it matters

Two counts of the indictment charge Cameron John Vagneus with “knowingly and knowingly” selling and transferring “confidential phone records information of a covered entity, without the prior consent of the user to whom it was directed.” Some secret phone related information is recorded.”

The court document does not detail the hacked content, but the security news blog KrebsOnSecurity reports that Wagenius appears to be connected to a series of high-profile breaches by the online alias “Kiberphant0m.” In November, Kimberphant0m posted that he had AT&T call logs for Trump and Harris.

While it’s unclear whether this data was actually secure, AT&T suffered a major theft of customer data last year as part of the Snowflake hack breach. KrebsonSecurity spoke with Wagenius’ mother who confirmed her son’s connection to the alleged Snowflake hacker.

What to know

Vagnius was charged in the Western District of Washington, but court documents say his actions took place “elsewhere,” including “foreign trade.” The indictment was filed on December 18 but has not yet been unsealed.

According to the US Code, illegally transferring phone records is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Vagneus, 20, is a soldier at Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas. His Facebook The page, which boasts 27 friends, is mostly about his time in the military, with photos and videos of guns and what appears to be Wagner in training.

An August 2023 post shows Vagneus at a shooting range, which he captioned “Desert Eagle at South Korean Range.” He also posted a collage from Seoul in September 2023, later that month with an image captioned, “CS Gas Chamber.”

According to The Verge, his reported alias, Kiberphant0m, posted unverified AT&T call logs in November, offering to sell the stolen information.

It is not clear whether Vagnius’ role in the military helped him commit the alleged crimes.

During Trump’s presidential campaign, Iranian hackers sent unsolicited information stolen from the now-president-elect’s campaign to people associated with the president. Joe Bidencampaign over the summer, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and The FBI. The indictment against three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the operation began in early January 2020.

Harris’ campaign also said that “some individuals were targeted on their personal emails.”

What are people saying?

Fort Cavazos told Fox News Digital: “We are aware of the arrest of a soldier from Fort Cavazos. III Armored Corps will continue to cooperate as appropriate with all law enforcement agencies.”

Alison Nixon, lead researcher at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, told Kirbson Security: “Anonymously outing the president and vice president as a member of the military is a bad idea, but harassing people who specialize in anonymizing cybercriminals is an even worse idea.”