Canadian Man Extradited to US Over University Cryptomining Hacking Spree (2016-2019)
The U.S. Justice Department extradited Ryan James Roach, a 35-year-old from Saskatchewan, Canada, to face charges for allegedly hacking into the networks of at least four U.S. universities (in New York, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Massachusetts) between mid-2016 and late 2019 to run an illicit cryptocurrency mining operation. A co-defendant, Mathiew James Stubbings, 41, of Ontario, is also charged but remains subject to extradition proceedings. A grand jury indicted both men in April 2022, and Roach was extradited on Oct. 28, 2026, and arraigned in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. If convicted, the pair face up to 10 years in prison, fines of up to $250,000, and forfeiture of devices and proceeds.
Detalhes técnicos
Prosecutors allege the men researched and identified victim institutions running supercomputers with exploitable vulnerabilities. They allegedly rented virtual private servers in Europe and the U.S. under false identities to mask their traffic, deployed rootkits, stole credentials and data, and transmitted cryptocurrency mining software to compromised machines. The indictment states the activity caused at least one supercomputer's processing power to be diverted for cryptomining, degrading performance for its legitimate owners. Officials did not disclose the amount of cryptocurrency mined.
Linha do tempo
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Canadian Man Extradited to US Over University Cryptomining Hacking Spree (2016-2019)
ler a análise desta fonte ocultar
The U.S. Justice Department extradited Ryan James Roach, a 35-year-old from Saskatchewan, Canada, to face charges for allegedly hacking into the networks of at least four U.S. universities (in New York, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Massachusetts) between mid-2016 and late 2019 to run an illicit cryptocurrency mining operation. A co-defendant, Mathiew James Stubbings, 41, of Ontario, is also charged but remains subject to extradition proceedings. A grand jury indicted both men in April 2022, and Roach was extradited on Oct. 28, 2026, and arraigned in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. If convicted, the pair face up to 10 years in prison, fines of up to $250,000, and forfeiture of devices and proceeds.
Technical Details
Prosecutors allege the men researched and identified victim institutions running supercomputers with exploitable vulnerabilities. They allegedly rented virtual private servers in Europe and the U.S. under false identities to mask their traffic, deployed rootkits, stole credentials and data, and transmitted cryptocurrency mining software to compromised machines. The indictment states the activity caused at least one supercomputer's processing power to be diverted for cryptomining, degrading performance for its legitimate owners. Officials did not disclose the amount of cryptocurrency mined.