Oil industry networking site creator gets one year in U.S. hack case

The founder of an oil and gas networking website who pleaded guilty to hacking a rival site he had created and sold to DHI Group Inc was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Friday.

David Kent, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan.

"I am deeply remorseful for my actions," Kent said before being sentenced, adding that he had fallen short in his efforts to live a "Christian life."

Federal prosecutors in March 2016 charged Kent, a Texas resident, with stealing data on more than 500,000 user resumes from Rigzone.com, which he sold for $51 million in 2010, to boost the membership of his new site, Oilpro.com.

Prosecutors at the time said that Kent then tried to sell Oilpro, created in 2013, to DHI by misrepresenting that the new website increased its membership to 500,000 through standard marketing methods.

Rigzone was launched by Kent in 2000 and allows members to create profiles and upload resumes. When the website was sold to New York-based DHI in 2010, its member database was worth $6 million, according to court papers.

Rigzone’s database was hacked twice in 2014 and 2015, the complaint said, resulting in members being solicited to join Oilpro, the complaint said.

Kent pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and related activity in connection with computers in December.

DHI has said that it cooperated with authorities in the investigation. Under his plea agreement, Kent agreed to pay the company $3.29 million in restitution. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)