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Vastaamo hacking suspect faces 14,000 new data breach charges

The new cases came to light during the course of the preliminary investigation into the hacking of the Vastaamo psychotherapy centre, prosecutors say.

Photo shows Vastaamo hacking suspect Aleksanteri Kivimäki pictured alongside his lawyer Peter Jaari during a court hearing in February.
Vastaamo hacking suspect Aleksanteri Kivimäki (right) pictured alongside his lawyer Peter Jaari during a court hearing in February. Image: Petteri Sopanen / Yle
Yle News

The suspect in the hacking of psychotherapy centre Vastaamo's database — and subsequent attempts to blackmail the company and its clients — was remanded into custody on Friday in relation to 14,000 new charges of aggravated data breaches.

Well-known Finnish hacker Aleksanteri Kivimäki is already in pre-trial custody ahead of a court hearing in relation to the Vastaamo case.

Regional Prosecutor Pasi Vainio confirmed the emergence of the new charges to Yle, but declined to comment on which companies or individuals may have been the victims of the new cases.

"This is because the owners of these computer systems have not been identified in the preliminary investigation. It is therefore a set of servers whose owners are unknown," Vainio said.

He was also unable to provide any information on what type of information — if any — may have been compromised during the suspected breaches.

However, the new cases came to light during the course of the Vastaamo investigation.

These latest cases of suspected data breaches are believed to have been committed in November 2018.

The two known breaches of Vastaamo's servers occurred in November 2018 and March 2019.

There are an estimated 30,000 victims in the Vastaamo case.

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