Cameron Lacroix, the 26-year-old hacker from New Bedford who’s responsible for the Paris Hilton nude photo leak back in 2005, has apologized to the celebrity for invading her privacy. The apology came as Lacroix is about to begin his four-year sentence for several counts of hacking including credit card fraud.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Lacroix addressed Hilton, saying: “Paris, I’m sorry I put your information online. I should never have done it. I wouldn’t want it done to me”. He also talked about how he managed to acquire Paris Hilton’s personal data, which stemmed from his plan to hack T-Mobile’s system in order to win a free phone.
“I’ve got to fix this.” Cameron Lacroix, one of America’s most notorious hackers EXCLUSIVE: http://t.co/KSkEnHm356 pic.twitter.com/V33pWA7h3s
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) November 4, 2014
“It all started because I wanted a T-Mobile phone,” he said in the interview. “Once I got in there, I realized, ‘Hey, I have access to everybody’s stuff!” Thinking that Paris Hilton probably owns a Sidekick because of her commercials for the company at the time, Lacroix decided to poke around. “Sure enough, it was under her name. I went into it and was shocked at what I saw.”
Lacroix, who went under the online handles “cam0” and “Freak”, released Hilton’s personal data on the internet including the aforementioned nude photos as well as her phonebook and her messages. He was 16 at the time.
Back in June, Lacroix pleaded guilty for his crimes which led to more than $1 million worth of damages to private firms. In October, US District Court Senior Judge Mark L. Wolf sentenced Lacroix to four years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Ever since his arrest, Cameron Lacroix has provided information to FBI in order to fix the lax security protocols of the same credit card companies that he has scammed in the past.
Lacroix will be 30 when he gets out of jail in 2018, at which point he vows to put his skills to good use by continuing to aid the authorities.