A 21-year-old man named Ryan Hernandez has been sentenced to three years in prison for his "computer hacking scheme" and "possession of child pornography" found on his digital devices.
In 2016, Hernandez used phishing techniques to steal the credentials of a Nintendo employee - allowing him to leak information about the Switch prior to launch. When contacted by the FBI in 2017, while he was still a minor, he promised to stop any further malicious activity, noting how he understood the consequences if he repeated the actions.
However, he didn't take much notice of this warning and returned to leaking Nintendo's secrets between June 2018 and June 2019. During this time he hacked "multiple" Nintendo servers, stole "confidential information" and "boasted" online about his hacking exploits. When agents searched his home in June 2019, they discovered thousands of confidential Nintendo files and more than one thousand explicit videos and images.
In addition to serving three years, he has agreed to pay $259,323 in restitution to Nintendo. Following release from prison, he will be required to complete seven years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender.
[source justice.gov, via polygon.com]
Comments 114
Found with THAT other thing and only 3 years? He is a menace to society, keep em locked for longer!
I wish they would tattoo “sex offender” on these crepos’ faces. And make it illegal to cover it up. So every female (of any age with this monster) knows to stay far away.
Okay that child thing is genuinely sick. Else I'd have called him the legend.
He had bad stuff—he deserves far longer than 3 years. I don’t like how the title of the article implies the prison sentence was exclusively for the hacking and not, you know, the far, far more worrying crime.
Edit: Why did someone edit my comment removing the two words describing what he was caught with and replacing it with “bad stuff” when it literally says those exact two words in the article?
Edit 2: At least Nintendo Life removed the out of place Mario picture and added the possession of the “bad stuff” to the title. Thank you for listening to our feedback.
From what I heard that $260k will probably be reduced to something he can actually pay (I mean I assume a 21-year-old doesn't have that sort of money) but that other thing... is probably going to make it quite difficult to earn that money... at the least... if not other worse life consequences.
"See Also: Guide Nintendo Switch Black Friday 2020 Best Beals"... I don't know that those topics are so related, NintendoLife.
Yeesh, only 3 years for both illegal content and genuine computer misuse? He got absolutely lucky there, shockingly low sentence.
Edit: Also would like to point out the censorship of words that are literally in the article.
It's impressive how much one person can mess up their life in 21 years...
3 years seems pretty tame though, I guess they don't see cyber crime to be on the same levels as physical crime?
@horizonisland Something I never a reason to think about in life, is whether he was a minor himself at that point of possession, if that could have affected the ruling.
@horizonisland Three years in prison for bad things lasts a lot longer than three years for other people. Or it lasts just a few months before it abruptly ends.
Reads headline
“Seems a bit harsh over some fricking video games”
Proceeds to read article
“WTF? only 3 years?
feel like we already read about "Ryan Hernandez" a year ago also think encountered him in Splatoon 2 hacking so we played turf war on a salmon run stage
It's almost like he wanted to end up in prison. If you're gonna conduct illegal activity that has a high chance of resulting in all your files being searched while also storing that in said files then there's only one way that's going to end.
Such a shame. He would have had such a bright career scamming grandmothers for their social security paychecks.
WAAAAAAAAA??????!?!?@?@ only THREE YEARS??????? WHA WHA WHA I just don't know what so say should have been life or 30.
@horizonisland exactly. That caught my attention big time as I was reading. Oddly enough it wasn’t mentioned any further in the article.
...Maybe mention the OTHER charge in the headline, Nintendolife...? You’re usually better than this (I think)...
Too bad. By the time he gets out he'll never get his hands on a copy of super mario 3d Allstars
Edit: now that I read hes a sex offender, put him away longer. I just thought he was some everyday hacker stealing nintendos info.
@Rich_Uncle_Skeleton They aren't usually, NintendoLife isn't scared of clickbait titles or disastrous comment sections
I guess they need the clicks to pay the bills, but it's still disappointing.
Good. Deserves Longer
He's a Sex Offender too!? Why only 3 years!?
On a more humorous note, I accidentally predicted 50% of Smash Bros Ultimate, what is my sentence?
@Little_Squee Legend? What he did wasn’t particularly sophisticated. Many, many people can do what he did, they just choose not to because they’re not morons/amoral pieces of
@NintendoByNature savage
he should at least get 20 years like The Cruel a.k.a
Thomas Edvalson
@Andy_Witmyer Why would you say something SO controversial yet SO brave?
👏👏👏👏👏👏
Edit: but someone please explain to me why conservatives constantly rant about politics in video games when it comes to black and LGBT representation yet leave comments like this completely unprompted??
Edit 2: nvm I already know the answer 🙄
Should be 30 years.
Real talk. Is there a reason every time we hear a story about The People vs Nintendo, "The People" always end up being pedophiles?
@Chowdaire Nintendo’s agents make sure that evidence gets planted before hacker’s files get raided.
Needs to be in there for a bit longer if ya ask me.
Nintendo Life doesn’t seem to know its target audience, anymore.
@Chowdaire Because people willing to commit one crime are often willing to commit others. It's how people are.
@LiamDoolan NINTENDO LIFE:
Yellow journalism and the yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.
A pitiful sentence, but such are all too common.
Countless children have been abducted, violated, and murdered to produce those videos.
I have no words to say for those can get off on the torture, humiliation, and degradation that these children have endured.
Now lock him up with a big shaped dude, after he will sound like Mario; AUW WAUW WAUW, mama mia!
How much of that sentence is for what he did to Nintendo though? I would assume most if not all is for the child stuff.
Bit misleading.
Don't drop the soap
@Andy_Witmyer That’s quite the leap. In fact, it’s beyond a leap, it’s just two completely random sentences stuck together.
Only 3 years. No wonder these hackers don't stop. For all the information they steal 3 years is nothing.
3 years for having CP? He should have the death penalty, but that’s just me.
@Andy_Witmyer
Uuuh...yeah! He was working with the deep state and the ghost of Karl Marx to hack into the servers. He gave Harris some votes, and helped the deep state plant, Bill Barr, lie to the public! Thanks for uncovering this conspiracy. 😎
@RandomAfricanGamer I’m a Marxist... follower of Skidd McMarx
@nessisonett 😎
@BAN You mean immoral, amoral means it's neutral, as in not good or evil.
Someone made a point about these types of people, if they have to be put on a criminal list and inform people that they're on that list to be let back into society then they are too dangerous to be in that society. Chances are he'll repeat his offenses too, as many of his vile kind often do.
It's not enough that the first part is bad, even if some would argue about "sticking it to the man". But he had to be a creep as well.
Hacking Nintendo, how many of us here have the skills to do it? I don't think many of us do.
I assume it requires some semblance of intelligence and above average experience with IT.
And yet, he has CP laying around in his hard drive. Like he wanted it to be found...
Who else was reading this and thought it was going to read
"Nintendo Hacker Who Stole "Confidential Information" Sentenced To Death"
I mean at the headline I was like "HA! Good!" and then I read the next bit and OH WOW that's not a lot of years
Also, who knew that someone sad enough to hack is actually a dirty creep
Ha! Don’t drop the soap!
@Little_Squee Releasing public information of employees isn't a very legendary thing either though, but yeah, wtf is wrong with these creeps
@Ironcore Holup, but to be honest, being in position of child...that thing is good enough reason to be sentenced to death
A low sentence surely?
@batata I only meant legend in the way one may call a car crash sexy.
@Ryu_Niiyama agreed but trust me sex offenders harm males and trans etc too, so please consider all genders
I agree 3 years seems short, but this guy is 21, he was a teenager not too long ago, and now he will spend 3 years of his early adult life in prison and after that he's marked for life as a sex offender, this guy's life is ruined.
@nessisonett You got censored for words literally in the article too lolllll
They also censored the dude who for some reason bought up Biden/Harris, as his comment originally had a line about Biden “having a thing for children.” Like...what
Edit: though maybe the Biden/Harris guy needs to be censored by the Marxist overlords who run the government/internet/Nintendo Life every once in a while. To you know...build some humility and feel comfortable with his own silence.
People complaining about "only" a 3 year sentence don't know the laws and haven't been to prison. The hack is what probably cost him that huge fine, and the cp he had gives him that mandatory sentence.
Of course since he's young and wasn't producing this stuff he probably wont be spending all that time in there, but c'mon people get a grip. Is he an a.s.s.h0le? Sure. But young people make mistakes. It's up to him if he wants to fix his life.
No reason for paedophiles to exist in society. Should be executed
@Papichulo mistake? Mistake? Are you actually f***ing serious. It’s snowflakes like you why guys like him are walking around doing what they do. He’s a waste of oxygen
who wouldve thought huh ? a hacker has morality issues
@Cosats @Rich_Uncle_Skeleton In NL’s defense, this is exactly how the subject line presents itself in the actual verdict release. And this is likely how articles covering this matter will follow.
Might as well top himself now
@Little_Squee Ohhh, right, I see
deserves to die.
wow didn't know the nintendolife community is so positiv about locking people up or even worse...
@iulis84 I mean sure, or just kill him, why waste good prison space and tax money if he'll be locked there for life?
Or maybe rehabilitate him and introduce him back to society, keep a close eye on his actions. American prisons are at full capacity, no need to keep filling them with easily solvable cases like this one.
Yeah that funny pic of Mario in jail is probably not appropriate in light of the seriousness of the crimes here.
@Chowdaire real talk people who are criminals usually commit more than one crime and nintendo is a (fairly) normal company in a lot of regards so it's not surprising to me that the criminals committed more serious crimes than leaking pokemon one day before release
@TheFullAndy they could have at least used the pic from sunshine that was a much more serious moment for the pasta crusader
ah yes, tis the life of a discord mod
@Ghostchip
Don't think Mario wants to be associated with this particular story at all!
Won't somebody think of Mario?!
Rather brutal sentence if you ask me, but I'm from a softie country, so don't ask me.
@TheFullAndy well reports are coming in the fellow vandolised the beautiful isle delfino
Lil edit: this is a joke your point is valid haha
everyone deserves redemption and as young and dumb as he was I think maybe he will learn from his mistakes after seeing the consequences. These may be very serious (and quite frankly disgusting) crimes but you don't know what this guy went through and even though he may deserve a harsh punishment talking about the death of a man is no joke and our government would be committing a worse crime than he did (arguably)
Edit I think I responded to the wrong person so I just removed the at haha
In part, the society has some blame due to how much of a taboo was to talk about sexual topics a few decades ago, and still is a taboo to talk in some areas/regions yet. I remember how many parents of my cousins never tell them anything and they learned about those topics from others in school in a way that wasn't correct and some were even pressured to experiment "to be cool" or "to be a man". Also, what about those that developed attractions so early that they don't know where to aim that? Who will help them if they are afraid to talk about this?
Perhaps if there was more education in the past decades, many of these things would not be happening as frequent as it still happens. Yes we have processed, but too slow for a something that is how humans procreate themselves.
@Diddy64 an interesting and valid opinion.
@6ch6ris6 hes a sexoffender looking at the vilest of images, we shouldn't we be?
@Ghostchip Yes, maybe my point wasn't clear, but the second paragraph of my comment is what I was trying to get to. The murdering bit was a sarcastic response to the guy saying he deserved to be locked for life.
@Snatcher This isn't China lmao. It would be nice if he got proper help as most people just get forced into a life of crime after prison release.
@Papichulo something of that magnitude isn't a mistake. Its deliberate perversion and he deserves whatever fallout his actions caused.
@Jokerwolf hes a Pedo, no sympathy for his kind. Which why most of us have no issue if he's kept in a cage for the rest of his pathetic existence.
@Bl4ckb100d (I accidentally replied to you I meant to reply the other guy sorry lol friend )
I've always been kinda sheltered so all I think of when I think pedofike is kamoshida and I haven't even gotten to p5 yet I am on p3p but everyone's always gushing about how good kamoshida s arc is so in typical internet fashion little bits have been spoiled for me over time until I knew everything... Kinda annoying
@Jokerwolf not related but is that jokers face on jesus body I'm christian and find that hilarious
While he certainly shouldn't have been phishing for confidential info and then stupidly bragging about it, the worst offense by far was the child porn. Three years is way too short for this guy. Hopefully he also gets the help he needs.
At first I said 3 years? Isn’t that a bit excessive? Then continued reading and said isn’t that not nearly long enough?
@Ghostchip I made it years ago in Photoshop haha.
@Malones2792 I just mean in general criminals of all sorts are forced down a life of crime once they are out, especially in North America.
@PBandSmelly
I was thinking the same F'ing thing. I've seen kids of a certain hue getting darn near that much time for something like violating probation for possessing pot. That piece of trash should be doing at least double digit years
@Rodan2000
Honestly I'm more worried about them being more of a pedo sympathizer and a kindred spirit with that scumbag than I am with them being some sort of a snowflake. I mean seriously, who in their right mind excuses something as disgusting as this?
@MakkaroniOni
That's hardly fitting though. He should have gotten way more time than that. Like I said earlier, there's people out here who are locked up about that time or longer for WAY less!
Wow, I remember reading that name at some point connected to something Nintendo. That's messed up that he was already caught....then continued doing it....and bragging about it....how dumb can one be? And why the obsession with Nintendo....if you're going to go comitted-criminal on the lamb....Nintendo doesn't seem like a worthwhile target to waste it on. Ignoring getting caught probably landed the sentence even more than the data possession. I can't imagine even without the data possession this would have resulted in much less considering it's the second time he was caught for the same crime.
@gameboy1975 exactly, it’s one of the few things along with rape and animal cruelty that can never be excused or reasoned out.
Well, he certainly become someone else's b*tch in prison. Good.
@Chowdaire I question whether the pornographic images in question are hentai and not real people. That would explain why he didn't get a much longer sentence.
So, has the FBI hired him yet?
The justice system is broken. We live in a age where criminals have MORE rights than the victims (law binding citizens/Police officers) of crime.
@6ch6ris6 To the NL community, this guy committed two of the seven deadly sins and needs to be sent to the electric chair. 😄
I got 💩 from people here for saying he did the crime and needs to do the time. I wasn't excusing his behavior or trying to make it acceptable. But you have to remember in America we live in a "Christian" society that is supposed to offer second chances, which is why the jails and the beauracracies tied to it are called CORRECTIONS.
Of course we all know it's BS and people come out of jail worse than when they went in. But the fact that this guy is only 21 gives him a chance to (maybe?) fix his life if he tries, or is offered the chance to.
I'm not Christian and don't subscribe to that sort of worldview. I'm just stating the facts.
@LaytonPuzzle27 How does the hacker have more rights than Nintendo?
@dBackLash Well the hacker gets light prison sentence while Nintendo has clean up the horrible hug mess/damage that this hacker made.
@Papichulo we as a society might wanna ask ourself if jail doesnt fix people, then maybe we need something better than the idea of locking people up for a certain amount of time.
also especially with crimes like childpornography we need to ask how people develop this behaviour in the first place and then try to prevent that people see children as sexual objects.
simply saying "these people are sick. lock them up forever or kill them" is very reactionary and inhumane
"Why don't you have a seat, Ryan? We have a lot to talk about." - Chris Hanson
Why does it always seem like illegal hackers also happen to pedophiles for?
Don't drop the soap, Ryan.
@6ch6ris6 Right on bro. Life is complicated. It ain't a video game where you play as the good guy with clear definitions of good and bad. That's exactly why we play video games, because life is full of complicated crap that takes time and energy to fully understand.
It's easier to just push A and stomp on goombas than come up with effective solutions for life's problems.
hacked nintendo? shouldn't of even got charged for that, someone else is just going to take his place anyway.
the other thing however warrants the an execution or a castration
@Tourtus No, I 100% mean amoral. When you’re referring to a person, amoral means they have no concern for whether or not the thing they’re doing is right or wrong. Speaking strictly about the hacking thing. In regards to the other thing, then yes, I’d definitely say that’s immoral.
@BAN Personally I think black hat hacking (the kind this creep was doing) is wrong, it's like a digital form of trespassing, breaking and entering and if something is stolen from a server or device then you can add theft to the mix.
White hat hacking is good though, because the intention there is to find exploits or other weak points in a system's security and to tell the owners about it so they can fix it.
So you're right about hacking being amoral but what this freak was doing was the immoral kind.
@horizonisland If it was deleted by Nintendo Life it was probably for trolling, otherwise he probably deleted it himself because he realized it was dumb.
@Shadowmoon522
Oh really? Does that go for you as well? With the way cyber crimes are consistently rising, it could definitely happen to you. So I guess that if someone say hacked you, your mom, or someone else that you deeply care for and stole social security number, credit card information or money electronically from the account you'd be totally okay with that, right? Just so long as they don't have something heinous like the bad stuff this guy had going on in the works of course.
People always say stuff like this until it happens to them. Then when it does, they almost always about face & suddenly seem to see the light. Coincidentally & conveniently of course at that time wanting the sort of reprieve or sympathy that that thing may not have had before when was someone else's problem. Kind of like some of the people people that I've seen mocking others & saying covid-19 wasn't real... until it got ahold of them or someone that they love who they've had to watch suffer and/or die. Just remember to keep that same energy if it happens to you or someone that you care about.
@RandomAfricanGamer @nessisonett - Geeze, guys - why so serious? You guys don't appear to be all that skilled in the art of comedic hyperbole. Perhaps you're not from the US and therefore the nuance of our linguistic humor is not your forte? Evidently the comment moderator was less than keen on it. Probably will be with this comment, too.
@caljr_8760 even if it was just the first part, it's still stealing confidential information from nintendo. it's not just "fricking video games"
Here's thing thing in the warrant search if it didn't list the illicit child materials they can't do a double jeopardy on him that's how the law works. They could only really get him on hacking. He could've went to jail long time but since it wasn't part of the warrant he got only the registering as sex offender. Which in itself is a lifetime jail sentence. Others hate this but that's how the law works.
@Tourtus Buddy. I’m not talking about MY personal view of hacking. I’m talking about the views of this person. It’s safe to assume that he didn’t care if what he was doing was wrong.
Also, he didn’t steal anything other than some information that he didn’t benefit from and that clearly didn’t harm Nintendo. Not defending it, but this is pretty benign, compared to the types of attacks companies like Nintendo face like every day.
@SwitchForce That’s not what double jeopardy means. That’s also not how search warrants work. They don’t turn a blind eye to incriminating evidence just because it was uncovered through a search warrant for something else. If the police execute a search warrant because they suspect you’re dealing drugs out of your house, they’re not going to act like they didn’t see anything when they incidentally discover bodies in your basement.
My guess is that this guy got a light sentence because he was a minor when he committed his crimes, was a first-time offender, and the kiddie stuff they found on his computer was below a certain threshold of severity/quantity. But he’s definitely gotten a good start on the road to becoming an even more massive piece of crap.
@Neopolss Man, I was JUST going to write this same thing, scroll down and there you are, same exact thoughts. He could very well be a pedo scumbag, but as you say, it's all too conveniently found as well.
in 2016 a now 21 year old man had kiddie porn, hmmm, that's a 17 year old with porn of people up to 17 years of age isn't it? Not trying say it's ok but it could be less horrible than it seems
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