By Aaron Miller-
A Russian hacker suspected of pursuing targets in the United States for hacking, has been arrested in the Czech Republic, the police announced Tuesday evening.
The Russian suspect was captured during a raid at a hotel in central Prague on Oct 5, about 12 hours after the authorities heard that he was in the country. The man was using a luxury vehicle to get from place to place with his girlfriend, did not resist arrest, was briefly hospitalized and did not resist arrest, according to police.
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A police spokesman said on Wednesday that the arrested man’s name would not be immediately announced, “for tactical reasons.”
The police statement said that “the man was a Russian citizen suspected of hacking attacks on targets in the United States,” and that the raid was conducted in collaboration with the F.B.I. after Interpol issued an arrest warrant for him.
The social media company LinkedIn said it believed it had been a victim in the case. The company, which acts as a virtual job network, said it had been actively involved in the F.B.I.’s case since it was hacked in 2012.
A statement from the police said that the arrest was an example of the international collaboration needed “to successfully defeat cyber adversaries,” but declined to provide any further details. ”Cyber crime can originate anywhere in the world, the statement read.
Russian hacker
Police said the suspected Russian hacker is believed to be have conducted criminal activities that targeted U.S interests
News of the arrest comes two days before the Obama administration formally accuse the Russian government of using a hacker in stealing and disclosing emails from the Democratic National Committee and other institutions and prominent individuals. At the moment, no concrete proof linking the Russian government with the hackings has been provided, though Wikileaks timed and extensive revelations of Clinton’s emails are highly suspicious. However, an allegation of Russian interference in the U.S elections through some covert kind of collaboration with Wikileaks, cannot be described as anything beyond suspicious.
Washington officials have stated that the hacker did not appear to be related to the hacking of the Democrats’ emails or to organisations like DCLeaks or WikiLeaks.
A judge in Prague has ordered the man to remain in custody, and a court will examine whether to extradite him to the United States, whilst the Russian embassy there have called for release of the hacker.
Hacked Clinton emails
In the wake of the DCLeaks and WikiLeaks release of the Clinton emails, obtained from the hacked accounts of prominent Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state, and John D. Podesta, security around protected and sensitive data in the U.S has been stepped up. Hacking is an illegal activity that is notoriously intrusive and compromising of privacy rights and laws.However, whenever relevant information emerges as a result of a hacking, it becomes impossible to ignore the information revealed.
The Russian hacker arrested may have motives of his own for practicing hacking, which may include selling whatever information he obtains to parties who would find them useful.
Russian dissidents are believed to be behind security breaches in connection with LinkedIn and Yahoo, in which hundred of millions of dollars was stolen.