United States authorities formally charged hacker Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikulin, (29-year-old Russian citizen) with hacking services Dropbox, Formspring, and LinkedIn.
Nikulin was arrested in Prague, Czech Republic on October 5, following an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol. News of his arrest broke just last weekteam, and authorities are reportedly awaiting a Czech court's decision on his extradition to the US.
According to the indictment, Nikulin violated all of the above businesses, in the spring and summer of 2012. More specifically, he acquired access on the Dropbox network from 14 May 2012 to 25 July 2012, on Formspring from 13 to 29 June 2012 and on LinkedIn from 3 to 4 March 2012.
Authorities say Nikulin was able to gain access to credentials belonging to employees on LinkedIn and Formspring, which he used for the hacks.
The hacker allegedly has intercepted data from 68 + millions of Dropbox users and over 117 million LinkedIn members.
After the data was intercepted, FBI researchers reported that the hacker had worked with at least three anonymous users to sell them on the black market.
Radio Free Europe highlights the costly lifestyle of Nikulin that funded by its hacking activities. The careless and eloquent hacker bought many luxury cars, expensive watches, and traveled all over Europe.
In an interview with the Russian AutoRambler, Nikulin admitted that he owns a Lamborghini Huracan, a Bentley, a Continental GT and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
US officials charge Nikulin with three intrusions into third-party computers, two categories for deliberately transferring information and code, causing damage to a protected computer, two categories for distinguished identity theft, trafficking of unauthorized access to computers, and conspiracy.
The maximum penalties for each category could result in Nikulin up to 32 for years of imprisonment and fines over 1 million dollars.
Below is a Nikulin capture video released by the Czech police after his arrest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQVm2-BEVAI
