Finnish national Aleksanteri Kivimäki, known by various online aliases including “Zeekill,” has been charged with multiple counts of extortion and data leaks related to the 2020 breach of the now-defunct Vastaamo clinic’s patient database.
Approximately 33,000 patients were affected by this significant cyber incident, which garnered public attention in October 2020. Prosecutors have accused Kivimäki of aggravated dissemination of private information, attempted extortion, and aggravated extortion, seeking a minimum seven-year prison sentence for his actions, which he denies.
Furthermore, French authorities arrested Kivimäki in February 2021 after a domestic disturbance call in suburban Paris. Following his arrest, he was extradited to Finland, where he has remained in pretrial detention since. The breach at Vastaamo exposed a security vulnerability, leading to the compromise of patient records and subsequent extortion attempts. Authorities have stated that the leaked patient database was later exploited for fraudulent activities.
Additionally, Finnish law enforcement, referring to the incident as the largest cyber hack recorded in the country, identified over 33,000 victims affected by the data breach. Victims have been encouraged to file official complaints, and evidence compiled for the case extends to a substantial 2,200 pages.
At the same time, a trial is scheduled to commence on November 13 in the district of Länsi-Uusimaa. Notably, Kivimäki has faced legal consequences in the past for a hacking spree targeting U.S. universities and a database provider in the previous decade.
