Aleksanteri Kivimäki Sentenced to Over Six Years in Finland's Largest Hacking Case

Updated on November 19, 2024 2 minutes read

The Western Uusimaa District Court has sentenced Aleksanteri Kivimäki to six years and three months in jail in a historic hacking case. The patient database of the psychotherapy institution Vastaamo was breached by Kivimäki, which made legal history in Finland’s highest victim count possible. In addition to the numerous counts of invasion of privacy (over 9,600), attempted extortion (over 21,300), and blackmail (20 counts), he was charged with aggravated data breach.

According to the prosecution, Kivimäki breached Vastaamo’s database in 2018, exposing the private data of about 33,000 people. He then made an attempt to collect money from the institution and its clients, threatening to post private patient information on the dark web if his requests were not fulfilled. When Vastaamo declined to cooperate, he eventually turned to posting patient records on the Tor network, even though he had first demanded 370,000 euros in bitcoin.

The prosecution requested the maximum penalty of seven years; nevertheless, the court made its decision after taking into account Kivimäki’s careless actions, the seriousness and nature of the crimes. It did, however, recognize as a mitigating element his consent to conditional settlements with many plaintiffs.

Kivimäki’s attorney conveyed his client’s dissatisfaction with the decision and hinted at a potential appeal. Since Kivimäki had not done any prison time in the five years prior to the hacking event, he was regarded by Finnish law as a first-time offender even though he had previously been found guilty of fraud involving false distress calls to American Airlines and US authorities.

Ville Tapio, the former CEO of Vastaamo, was sentenced to three months of suspended jail time last year for violating GDPR regulations. This verdict has been appealed by Tapio and the prosecution, and a hearing is set for May 2025.

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