United States authorities formally charged hacker Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikulin, (29-year-old Russian national) with hacking services dropbox, Formspring, and LinkedIn.
Nikulin was arrested in Prague, Czech Republic, on October 5, following an international arrest warrant issued by the Interpol. News of his arrest broke just last week, and authorities are reportedly awaiting a Czech court's decision to extradite him to the US.
According to the indictment, Nikulin violated all of the aforementioned operations in the spring and summer of 2012. In particular, it gained access to the Dropbox network from 14 May 2012 to July 25 2012, Formspring from 13 to 29 June 2012 and LinkedIn from 3 to 4 March 2012.
The authorities report that Nikulin managed to gain access to credentials belonging to LinkedIn and Formspring employees, which he used for hacks.
The hacker allegedly has intercepted data from 68 + millions of Dropbox users and over 117 million LinkedIn members.
After intercepting the data FBI investigators said the hacker worked with at least three anonymous users to put 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 counts of breaking into third-party computers, two counts of knowingly transmitting information and code, causing damage to a protected computer, two counts of grand larceny ID cards, for trafficking in unauthorized access to computers, and for 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 video of Nikulin's arrest released by the Czech Republic police after his arrest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQVm2-BEVAI
