Julius “Zeekill” Kivimäki, one of the most wanted cybercriminals in Finland and former Lizard Squad hacker, was arrested by French authorities for his role in a hack of the Finnish psychotherapy center Vastaamo that exposed personal data of thousands of patients.
The arrest was confirmed by Finland’s police in a press release stating that the suspect was arrested based on the arrest warrant. Finland’s authorities had issued a European arrest warrant for Kivimäki, who now goes by the first name Aleksanteri, on charges of computer-related crime and racketeering and extortion.
Kivimäki has been charged with eight offenses tied to Vastaamo including hacking, leaking people's private information and falsifying evidence.
The Vastaamo breach came to light in October 2020, when a hacker under the moniker “Ransom Man” asked for an 450,000 euros ($485,000) ransom in bitcoin in exchange for not leaking patients’ private information. After the medical facility refused to pay, the hacker began contacting individual patients, demanding they pay a ransom worth about 200 euros ($215) within 24 hours (or 500 euros ($540) if not paid within 48 hours), if they didn't want to see their private medical and financial details get leaked.
Ultimately, over 20,000 records were leaked. Police said financial information stolen in the breach was also later used to commit fraud.
The Vastaamo breach is not the first time Kivimaki has faced charges for hacking. In 2015, the 17-year-old hacker was found guilty of 50,700 instances of aggravated computer attacks, including infecting 1,400 servers with malware and creating a botnet that later was used to launch denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The hacker is said to have attacked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University.
Kivimaki was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to return 6,500 euros ($6,400) he obtained via illicit activities.