Aleksanteri Kivimäki’s hearing was followed by a surprising audience

Accused of Vastaamo data breach and blackmailing its patients Aleksanteri Kivimäki was heard on Monday in the district court of Länsi-Uusimaa. The hearing was followed by the ex-CEO of the bankrupt Vastaamo on the spot Ville Tapio.

Tapio told Iltalehte that he has not met Kivimäki before. He has not participated in the previous sessions of the case series on data breach and extortion.

– It was important to be able to meet the person face to face. I haven’t met before, says Tapio.

– Maybe I didn’t get much out of this on the technical side, but I would certainly have been left wondering if I hadn’t come to listen on the spot.

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Tapio says that he has familiarized himself with the preliminary investigation material of the case. He says that he felt it was meaningful to participate in Monday’s session, where the prosecutors were able to examine Kivimäki, who was accused of data breach.

– In this situation, when Kivimäki was challenged a little bit, it was interesting to hear and see how he reacted and performed.

Is there anything you would like answers to?

– Maybe in the middle of the trial I don’t want to confuse this more. Maybe I can come back to this later.

Reception desk

Psychotherapy center Vastaamo was the target of a data breach in 2018. In October 2020, blackmail messages were sent to patients treated by the company. Earlier, the blackmailer had tried to blackmail the company.

As a result of the events, Vastaamo eventually went bankrupt and the Helsinki district court sentenced Ville Tapio to three months’ suspended imprisonment for a data protection offence. The judgment is not legally binding, but has been appealed to the Court of Appeal.

The Helsinki Court of Appeal is not scheduled to hear Tapio’s appeal until next year. Tapio says that he found responding to legal processes tedious and time-consuming.

– Other than that, I’ve tried to enjoy my free time and tried to put aside these more boring things, which I’ve had to deal with for many years in pretty heavy moods, says Tapio.

He says that he went camping and kayaking in the sea, among other things.

– Maybe these week-long hiking and backdrafting kayaking trips are ones that there was no time for when I was an entrepreneur. Now they have had a chance.