Ukrainian police arrest hacker who used hosting firm's servers to mine cryptocurrency

Ukrainian police, with assistance from Europol, have arrested a 35-year-old man accused of hacking into thousands of user accounts at an international hosting company and using its infrastructure to illegally mine cryptocurrency, authorities said Wednesday.

The suspect, a native of the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, had been conducting cyberattacks since at least 2018, police said. He allegedly gathered information from open sources to identify vulnerabilities in the systems of various international companies.

According to investigators, the hacker gained unauthorized access to more than 5,000 user accounts belonging to an unnamed global hosting provider that rents out servers to businesses operating websites and online platforms. Once inside, he allegedly deployed virtual machines on the company’s infrastructure to mine cryptocurrency without permission.

Ukrainian cyber police said the unauthorized mining operation caused an estimated $4.5 million in losses to the company.

During raids at several locations, officers seized computers, mobile phones, banking cards and other equipment. Forensic analysis revealed that the suspect maintained multiple accounts on hacker forums and used various malicious tools, such as software scripts for launching and managing crypto-mining operations and tools for data collection and remote control of compromised systems.

The man frequently changed his residence to avoid detection, police said. The investigation is ongoing.