Ukraine cracks major cryptocurrency hijacking case: 35-year-old hacker hacked servers for mining, causing a loss of 4.4 million dollars

A man suspected of "cryptojacking" has been arrested by the Ukrainian police. According to a statement on June 4, the 35-year-old suspect has been continuously hacking into international corporate servers for cryptocurrency mining since 2018. Investigations revealed that he illegally obtained access to over 5,000 client accounts of a hosting service provider and used its server resources for mining operations.

According to Cointelegraph, the Ukrainian police stated that the suspect's actions of stealing resources and refusing to pay have caused the involved companies losses exceeding 185 million hryvnias (approximately 4.4 million USD). The police also accused the suspect of frequently changing his residence in regions such as Poltava, Odessa, Zaporizhia, and Dnipro to evade detection.

During the search of the "cryptojacking" suspect's residence, the Ukrainian police seized computer equipment, mobile phones, bank cards, and other physical evidence. The police claimed that this evidence showed he had been active on hacker forums for a long time. It was disclosed that the seized devices also contained: email authorization data for network intrusions, cryptocurrency wallets, software for configuring/starting/managing cryptocurrency mining operations, and tools for remote information collection and device control.

The National Police of Ukraine seized computer equipment, mobile phones, and bank cards during the search of the hacker suspect's residence. According to the National Police of Ukraine, the suspect is now charged with "unauthorized interference with the operation of electronic information communication networks."

According to data from PeckShield, the amount involved in cryptocurrency crimes reached 244 million USD in May, but losses from hacker attacks decreased by 40% year-on-year. The National Police of Ukraine stated that if convicted, the suspect could face up to 15 years in prison and may be banned from holding IT and communication-related positions for three years or from engaging in work that may come into contact with communication systems. The case is still in the pre-trial investigation stage, and additional charges may be added in the future.

In a similar case, a man in the United States was charged last April with wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly defrauding two cloud computing service providers, operating a large-scale illegal cryptojacking operation, and mining cryptocurrency worth 970,000 USD.