After finishing his prison sentence, Hiếu PC (Ngô Minh Hiếu) returned to Vietnam following a long time abroad. Back home, he joined the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) of Vietnam. Before this, he also wrote an extensive guide offering advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft and data breaches.
Although he has “turned over a new leaf” and now works as a cybersecurity expert in Vietnam, Hiếu PC still reflects deeply on his past mistakes and the major tech-related criminal sentence he faced in the US at age 25.
Specifically, in a chat with host Dustin Phúc Nguyễn on the show Dustin On The Go, Hiếu PC opened up about his past life in a heartfelt conversation with the host and viewers.
From 2008 to 2009, Ngô Minh Hiếu lived in New Zealand where he was an admin for several hacker forums on the dark web. While studying, he discovered a vulnerability in his school’s network and used a similar exploit to hack other websites, stealing users’ payment card data. This brought him significant earnings.
However, Hiếu admitted this was a stressful time. He lied to everyone around him, pretending his family was wealthy with real estate and restaurant businesses in the city. He even prepared “scripts” to explain his background.
It wasn’t until he was caught in a massive identity theft case involving 200 million Americans’ social security numbers that his friends found out the truth. Though originally sentenced to 40 years in prison, his good behavior and efforts to reform led to a commutation down to 7 years. During his sentence, he was trained in criminal investigation skills.
This life story is now attracting interest from a film producer who wants to turn it into a movie. Hiếu PC revealed negotiations are underway. He also pointed out that the portrayal of hackers in movies is only about 60% accurate, and the reality is much more complicated.
Hiếu PC, whose real name is Ngô Minh Hiếu, is well-known in the hacker and cybersecurity community under the nickname hieupc. Born in 1989, he was introduced to computers and the internet at a very young age. If his story gets adapted into a film, fans will surely be excited to see it come to life.
