The Radiance of Knowing

19 year old Tennessee teen, Joshua Holly, has admitted to hacking into MySpace accounts as part of a spamming scheme. He has reportedly been paid over $100,000 by companies who got him to advertise for them. The FBI has questioned the teen who hacked into singing sensation and changed users’ MySpace layouts, Miley Cyrus’ Gmail account, for a spamming scheme. Josh Holly has admitted to hacking into Miley Cyrus’ Gmail account to steal personal photos which have been posted on the Internet via Digitalganster.com.1 His affidavit reveals that the youth has attempted to sell these photos. The FBI has seized various pieces of computer equipment which has led to the arrest of the Tennessee youth.

The affidavit, obtained under FBI questioning reveals that the 19 year old youth has hacked into more than 50 Internet email accounts. He hacked into these accounts and retrieved photos from them. He then freely confessed that he posted these photos up on the Internet over an Arizona radio station.2

In mid 2008 the youth set out to prove that he was the perpetrator of Miley Cyrus’ Gmail account by posting screen shots of his criminal activities up on Digitalgansters.com. He even describes how he hacked into Miley Cyrus’ accounts. He says that he started by hacking into her MySpace account and then with this information he progressed to hacking into her Gmail account.

The 19 year old youth has been hacking into other people’s Internet accounts since 2005 and has been generating revenue through spamming.3 He admitted that he chose to hack celebrity accounts because many visitors view the site on a daily basis. His bank accounts reveal that between November 2007 and July 2008 Holly received payment of over $110,000 from various Internet companies on whose behalf Holly sent out spam advertisements. Holly claims that 50% of this money went to his accomplice who provided Holly with numerous ideas with regards to advertising.

The alleged hacker never flinches from admitting his misdemeanors. He has already confessed to the FBI and even publicly told members of his website, TrainReq.org. Furthermore, MySpace officials frequently contacted Josh who admitted to hacking into Miley Cyrus’ account and to posting photos of her on the Internet. Josh even requested MySpace to reactivate his account.

The FBI will examine the hardware which was seized in a raid conducted in October 2008 where computers, phones and discs were seized. In response to this he says that he is a scared about the consequences of what he has done, “Once I go to court I can’t say ‘not guilty’. There’s no way I can get out of this at all. Not even OJ’s lawyers or Michael Jackson’s lawyers can get me out of this. To be blunt, I was an idiot and I didn’t delete any of my [hard drives]. I never thought they would raid me. They’re going to get full proof evidence of everything that I’ve said I’ve done.”4