Spanish police have arrested José Luis Huertas (“Alcaseca”, “Mango”, “chimichuri”), a 19-year-old widely considered to be the most dangerous hacker in Spain.
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Huertas is credited with multiple infamous cyberattacks, as well as the creation of a search engine called Udyat. This malicious platform was used to sell massive amounts of illegally obtained sensitive data.
After months of intensive investigations, police located and arrested the young hacker and described him as a "serious threat to national security.".
At Huertas' residence and additional recorded locations, police forces were mobilized to seize piles of currency, documents , and computers that will help uncover the hacker's suspicious activity.
A full-scale investigation has been launched after a disturbing breach of the computer network of the National Council of the Judiciary of Spain (CGPJ). The perpetrator had stolen and compiled data from 575,000 taxpayers into a database to distribute to other cybercriminals. This malicious act has caused great concern among citizens, as well as increased security protocols against similar attacks in the future.
This illegal service contains private information, such as personal identification information, account numbers, and even financial institution codes.
In addition, Huertas is accused of impersonating Paolo Vasile, the head of Gestevisión Telecinco/Mediaset España, and stealing 300 thousand euros from him. He also faces charges such as assault on prominent entities and money laundering.
With each malicious attempt, the hacker grew more confident. Eventually, he boasted in a YouTube interview that his hack had given him access to the data of almost all Spanish citizens.
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After a thorough investigation, experts from the cyber threat division of the General Police Intelligence Department identified the perpetrator behind the multiple offenses – a 19-year-old with an extensive criminal history in cyberspace. The Policia Nacional is proud to report that this suspect has since been arrested.
As reported in local media, Spanish law enforcement authorities were able to track down the underage hacker by tracing his payments for maintaining the “Eye of Horus” server.
Even though Huertas was using cryptocurrency that had been “cleaned” with the help of mixing services, police were still able to trace the payments with the help of experts at the National Cryptological Center.
Investigators believe Huertas poses a significant risk of flight, destruction of evidence, and continuing to commit crimes of a similar nature, and have therefore decided that he will remain in custody until a trial date is reached.
Judge José Luis Calama motivated his decision to keep the suspect in custody by saying that he has significant amounts of cryptocurrencies that would allow him to reside anywhere in the world, avoiding the action of Spanish justice.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
