The alleged Russian hacker behind the breach of some major social media organizations’ networks and computers is in the middle of extradition negotiations between the United States and Russia following his arrest in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Justice Ministry has revealed that the United States and Russia have both requested the extradition of Yevgeniy Nikulin, a Russian national who is the alleged perpetrator behind major breaches of companies including Dropbox, LinkedIn and Formspring.
The extradition requests will be referred to a Prague court. If both requests are deemed valid, the Czech Republic’s Justice minister would make the call to pick one of the two, as reported by Reuters.
The arrest was the result of a joint operation between the FBI and the Czech police, who apprehended the suspect earlier in October, as LIFARS previously reported.
The accused remains in custody in Prague following his arrest. Russia’s foreign ministry and embassy in Prague have repeatedly criticized Washington’s request for extradition, with the latter claiming that the US is undertaking a global manhunt against Russian citizens.
Meanwhile, the US government has frequently accused Russia of interfering with the US presidential elections, pointing to the breaches and cyberattacks striking several Democratic Party organizations. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia’s interests would not be enhanced with a hacking scandal.
The LinkedIn breach saw a total of 117 million records compromised, all of which were put up for sale on a dark web marketplace by “Peace” a notorious hacker who is also involved with a number of other notable data breaches.
Nikulin was indicted by a federal grand jury in Oakland, California on Oct. 21 and it remains to be seen if the alleged hacker is to face justice on US shores.
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