In Ukraine, police have arrested a man from Poltava for hacking over 5,000 accounts of a company that hosts websites. He used the hacked accounts to secretly mine cryptocurrency, which caused the loss of $4.5 million to the firm.
The arrest was made by Ukraine’s cyber police and investigators from the Zaporizhia area, with help from a European group called Europol and other international police.
The 35-year-old man, whose name hasn’t been shared yet, started this illegal activity in the year 2018. He searched for loopholes in the computer servers of different companies around the world. When he found it, he broke in and used special software to trick the servers into mining cryptocurrency for him. The trick, called cryptojacking, had allowed him to steal the company’s computing power, which led to this hack.
After his arrest, the police searched carefully and took important items as evidence. The police have seized his mobile phones, credit cards, and computers. The police have found some important evidence that the fraudster used in his illegal scheme. They discovered cryptocurrency wallets, digital bank accounts that hold the digital money that he mined by stealing the company’s computer power.
As per the reports, the police also found software that he used to start and manage the mining process with the login details for email accounts he hacked to get into the systems. Plus, they uncovered tools that let him control the company’s servers from far away. All the evidence demonstrates how cleverly and secretly he intended to execute the crime.
The Cyber Police Department said the man is in trouble under a Ukrainian law that punishes people for messing with computer networks without permission. If convicted, he will face a maximum 15-year jail sentence and a three-year ban from certain activities.
This case shows how cryptojacking, stealing computer power to mine digital money, is a big problem, and it highlights why countries need to work together to fight cybercrime. The police are still looking for others who might have helped and checking for more harm.
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