An accused Russian hacker blamed for
attacking LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring is finally facing American
prosecutors after a lengthy extradition fight in the Czech Republic.
Yevgeniy
Aleksandrovich Nikulin is due to appear in U.S. federal court in
California on Thursday for a detention hearing. He’s facing decades of
prison time in connection with the charges. It's unclear whether Nikulin
has any connection to the Russian troll farm the Internet Research
Agency, which is widely blamed by American authorities for interfering
in the 2016 presidential election.
But only two
days after Nikulin's arrest, American officials for the first time
publicly warned that the Russian government was directing efforts to
influence the election by hacking and releasing private information.“Computer hacking is not just a crime, it is a direct threat to the
security and privacy of Americans,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said
in a statement. “In this case, the defendant, a Russian national, is
accused of breaking into the computer system of several important
American companies using stolen identities, and potentially gaining
access to the personal information of millions of Americans. This is
deeply troubling behavior once again emanating from Russia. We will not
tolerate criminal cyber-attacks and will make it a priority to
investigate and prosecute these crimes, regardless of the country where
they originate.”
Nikulin was indicted in October 2016 and taken into
custody almost immediately by Czech authorities. But the Russian
government also tried to extradite him on charges that some skeptics say
were invented to prevent Nikulin from being interviewed by American
authorities. House Speaker Paul Ryan raised the issue with Czech
officials last month, and Nikulin was sent to the United States days
later.
All three of the companies Nikulin is
accused of hacking are based in California, although Formspring is
defunct. Dropbox is a service allowing people to share files, LinkedIn
is a social network for business connections, and Formspring is perhaps
best remembered as one of the social media platforms that former
Congressman Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., used to exchange smutty messages
with a young woman who was not his wife under the name "Carlos Danger."
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