Suspected crimes are connected by the manner and time of commission, says prosecutor Pasi Vainio.
Aleksanteri Tomminpoika Kivimäki, who is suspected of the Vastaamo data breach, is suspected of a serious data breach targeting more than 14,000 different servers. In addition, Kivimäki is suspected of several aggravated extortions and attempts at aggravated extortion.
The suspected crimes are dated to November 2018. Prosecutor Pasi Vainio says that the suspected crimes have not previously been exposed to the public, but they have happened at the same time as the Vastaamo data breach. So it is suspected that the server at the reception desk was just one server among thousands.
– It sounds really big, and of course it is, says Vainio.
According to the prosecutor, the new criminal suspicion is based on the already submitted and new preliminary investigation, which will be submitted to the prosecutors at a later stage. He says that the new investigation will not interfere with the Vastaamo investigation, the center of which is the data breach and the victims who are its stakeholders.
– The focus of the story will not change so that people should be worried.
Julius Kivimäki is suspected of more than 14,000 serious data breaches. Henri Kärkkäinen
In the Vastaamo case, in which Kivimäki is also suspected, according to the police’s estimate, more than 30,000 people fell victim to a data breach. The number of new criminal suspects – individuals whose information has been leaked from the servers – is not known.
According to Vainio, the servers were presumably owned by some individuals or companies at the time of the events, but he cannot name these parties. It is possible that data breaches have been carried out both in Finland and on servers located abroad.
– This is a separate case where the parties involved have remained and will probably remain unknown in the prosecution. The deadlines are approaching, which means that it is not possible to investigate who the interested parties might be.
– The mechanics of the act will be opened later in the trial regarding the Vastaamo case, if the indictment is brought. The runtime and mechanics are similar, he says.
Aleksanteri Kivimäki is also known as Julius Kivimäki. He is suspected of the Psychotherapy Center Vastaamo data breach, which became public in the fall of 2020 after Vastaamo filed a criminal complaint with the police. Due to the data breach, Vastaamo’s customers received blackmail messages and their patient data was leaked to the Tor network.
Kivimäki was arrested in absentia on suspicion of crimes in October 2022. He was staying abroad at the time. He was arrested in France in February 2023 and delivered to Finland.
The investigation of the Vastaamo data breach was completed at the end of August and it is now being considered for charges.
Iltalehti exceptionally publishes the suspect’s name already in the preliminary investigation phase based on the previous criminal suspicion, Vastaamo data breach, social significance and the suspect’s serious criminal background.