Breaking — Russian Hacker Responsible for LinkedIn Data Breach Arrested by FBI

The alleged Russian hacker arrested by the FBI in collaboration with the Czech police is none other than the hacker who was allegedly responsible for massive

2012 data breach at LinkedIn

, which affected nearly 117 Million user accounts.

Yevgeniy N

, 29-year-old

Russian hacker was arrested

in Prague on October 5 suspected of participating in conducting cyber-attacks against the United States, according to

Reuters

.

Earlier it was suspected that the hacker could be involved in hacking against the 

Democratic National Committee

 (DNC), or its presidential candidate

Hillary Clinton

, intended to influence the presidential election.

But the latest statement released by LinkedIn suggests that the arrest was related to a 2012 data breach at the social network that exposed emails and hashed password of nearly 117 Million users.

"We are thankful for the hard work and dedication of the FBI in its efforts to locate and capture the parties believed to be responsible for this criminal activity," LinkedIn said in a statement. 

"Following the 2012 breach of LinkedIn member information, we have remained actively involved with the FBI's case to pursue those responsible."

Earlier this year, a hacker under the nickname "Peace" put on sale what claimed to be the database of

167 Million emails

and hashed passwords, including 117 Million already cracked passwords, belonging to LinkedIn users.

But, it is still unclear if the arrested hacker is the same who was selling LinkedIn data dump on the Dark Web market.

Watch Video of Hacker's Arrest:

If it turns out to be the same, then it would be a jackpot for the FBI because 'Peace' is the same hacker who was responsible for selling data dumps for

MySpace

,

Tumblr

,

VK.com

and

Yahoo

.

Czech police said that a court would take the decision on the hacker's extradition to the U.S., where he is facing charges for his hacking-related crimes.

We will update the story as soon as we get official confirmation from the U.S. feds.

from The Hacker News http://ift.tt/2et9jUR