David Schrooten

{{Short description|Dutch computer hacker}}

David Benjamin Schrooten is a Dutch computer hacker also known as Fortezza{{Cite book|title=Cyberdanger - The Role of Government|chapter=The Role of Government|year=2019|pages=161–178|publisher=Springer|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-04531-9_10|isbn=9783030045319|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-04531-9_10|last1=Willems |first1=Eddy |s2cid=164409675 }}{{Cite book|title=Criminal Justice in Action|isbn = 9781305142817|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcOiAgAAQBAJ&q=David+Schrooten+ebook+cybercrime&pg=PT570|last1 = Gaines|first1 = Larry K.|last2 = Miller|first2 = Roger Leroy|date = January 2014| publisher=Cengage Learning }} and Xakep. In 2012, he was arrested in Romania at the request of the United States Secret Service and extradited to Seattle, Washington.{{Cite web|title=10 arrests that shook the cybercrime underworld. Kaspersky|url=https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/10-arrests-that-shook-the-cybercrime-underworld/1397/}}{{Cite web|title=David Benjamin Schrooten, aka "Fortezza," Dutch hacker, pleads not guilty to mass U.S. credit card theft.|website=CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-benjamin-schrooten-aka-fortezza-dutch-hacker-pleads-not-guilty-to-mass-us-credit-card-theft/}} Here he was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, primarily for his role in trafficking credit cards he obtained by hacking other hackers.{{Cite web|title=Study for an Impact Assessment on a Proposal for a New Legal Framework on Identity Theft - European Commission (Fortezza mentioned as example)|url=https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/default/files/e-library/documents/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/cybercrime/docs/final_report_identity_theft_11_december_2012_en.pdf}} By doing so, he caused approximately 63 million dollars in damages.{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/dutch-citizen-sentenced-12-years-prison-computer-hacking-scheme-stole-and-sold-credit|title=Dutch Citizen Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Computer Hacking Scheme that Stole and Sold Credit Card Info|date=March 9, 2015|website=www.justice.gov}}{{Cite web|title=Dutch Hacker Accused of Trafficking 100,000 Credit Cards Sentenced to 12 Years|date=4 February 2013 |url=https://news.softpedia.com/news/Dutch-Hacker-Accused-of-Trafficking-100-000-Credit-Cards-Sentenced-to-12-Years-326286.shtml}}{{Cite web|title=Hacking case puts Dutch man in US prison|url=https://phys.org/news/2013-02-hacking-case-dutch-prison.html}}{{Cite web|title=Power and ego, not money, may have fueled alleged Dutch hacker|date=13 June 2012|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2504258/power-and-ego--not-money--may-have-fueled-alleged-dutch-hacker.html}}

In 2014 he was sent back to the Netherlands through a treaty transfer{{Cite web|title=Dutch Hacker transferred back to the Netherlands|url=https://tweakers.net/nieuws/98077/nederlandse-creditcardhacker-mag-straf-in-nederland-uitzitten.html}} and subsequently released in December that same year.{{Cite web|title=News article mentioning his release|date=21 January 2015|url=https://www.nu.nl/internet/3976878/nederlandse-hacker-david-s-uitlevering-vrije-voeten.html}} After his release he authored a book named Alias Fortezza{{Cite web|title=Alias Fortezza Audiobook|url=https://www.audible.ca/pd/Alias-Fortezza-Audiobook/B07LB7QPRP}}{{Cite web|title=Publication Esquire about incarceration|date=11 June 2016|url=https://www.esquire.com/nl/mantertainment/news/a3915/dit-is-het-bizarre-verhaal-van-de-nederlandse-hacker-die-in-de-amerikaanse-cel-terecht-kwam/}} chronicling his arrest and incarceration.

As a computer hacker he was particularly notorious for hacking rival groups{{Cite web|title=Mentioned in Sentencing Memorandum Fedir Hladyr|url=https://dd80b675424c132b90b3-e48385e382d2e5d17821a5e1d8e4c86b.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/external/19719611699.pdf}} such as the Infraud Organization, in which he crowned himself admin under the alias xakep.{{Cite web|title=Wayback Machine - Mentioned as admin in overview.|url=http://infraud.cc/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014023713/http://infraud.cc/|archive-date=2011-10-14|url-status=live}} He was also known as one of the founders of the cybercrime forum kurupt.{{Cite web|title=Feds Arrest 'Kurupt' Carding Kingpin?|url=https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/06/feds-arrest-kurupt-carding-kingpin/}} That later split up in two separate forums, because of infighting among founding members. The break up resulted in hacking skirmishes between the groups that ended when they started publishing each other names. After his arrest, the remaining forum kurupt.ru kept operating and continued getting themselves involved in high profile hacking endeavours such as the stophaus attack, that broke a part of the internet.{{Cite web|title=Inside 'The Attack That Almost Broke the Internet'|url=https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/08/inside-the-attack-that-almost-broke-the-internet/}}