From A 13-Year-Old Hacker To Europe's Most Wanted 11 Years Later

The imprisonment of a hacker, who was one of Europe's most wanted criminals, brought an end to an 11-year cyber-crime spree.

According to a report in the BBC, Julius Kivimaki has been jailed for blackmailing 33,000 patients, who were undergoing or underwent therapy, with their stolen session notes.

The report added that the crime spree began when Mr Julius was just 13, catapulting him into prominence in a network of anarchic teenage hacking gangs.

As per a report by Business Insider, the Finnish hacker on Monday was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, after the District Court of Western Uusimaa found him guilty of all counts.

The accusations reportedly included 9,231 counts of disseminating information violating personal privacy and 20,745 counts of attempted aggravated extortion.

After being extradited from France to Finland, Mr Julius was charged in October last year, the report added.

The Finland judiciary system published a bulletin, in which the court revealed that Vastaamo, a private psychotherapy service with centres across the country, was hacked back in November 2018.

The hacking of the psychotherapy service provider resulted in an illegal copy of its patients' database.  

As per BBC, in 2020, the 26-year-old demanded a ransom of more than 400,000 euros, or $426,818 (₹3,55,88,362), from the therapy company.

Other reports by Finnish media state that the demand was much higher at 450,000 euros ($534,000).

In addition, Mr Julius demanded that the ransom is supposed to be paid in Bitcoin by the psychotherapy centre.

After the psychotherapy centre refused to pay the ransom amount, Mr Julius emailed thousands of patients asking them all for 200 euros, or $213, BBC reported.

While threatening to publish their confidential therapy notes and personal details online, Mr Julius also warned the patients that the amount would be increased to 500 euros unless paid within 24 hours.

Soon after the threat, confidential information reportedly surfaced on the dark web. This also included patients' personal details, Social Security numbers, and sensitive therapist and doctor notes from their private sessions.

The BBC report noted that at least one suicide has been linked to this case.

While Mr Julius denied all charges, the legal bulletin cited evidence presented in the trial, confirming his involvement.