SBU identified and detained a hacker under the name Sanix. At the beginning of the last year, he drew the attention of global cybersecurity experts by announcing on the Internet message board the sale of database with 773,000 email addresses and 21,000 unique passwords.

In January 2019, The Guardian, Forbes and Newsweek wrote about him, while the TV channel Italia 1 dedicated a story to him, since the database he put up for sale became the largest stolen data set in history.

SBU specialists found that the said 87 GB database is only a part from the total number of misappropriated data. The hacker had at least seven such databases of stolen and broken passwords, amounting to almost a terabyte. These included personal, financial, as well as EU and North American data.

Apart from that, SBU materials indicated that a hacker nicknamed Sanix most probably a Ukrainian national, a resident of Ivano-Frankivsk region.

SBU cyber experts established the fact of selling databases with logins and passwords to e-mail boxes, PIN numbers to bank cards, BTC e-wallets, PayPal accounts, as well as information about computers broken for further use in botnets and DDoS attacks.

During searches at suspect’s place of residence, law enforcement officers seized computer equipment with 2 TB of stolen data and mobiles proving his illegal activity. Additionally, cash in the amount of over UAH 190,000 (USD 7,308) and more than USD 3,000 were confiscated as well.

The issue on serving the hacker a suspicion notice of unauthorized interference with computers and unauthorized sale or dissemination of restricted computer stored information, is being resolved under Part 2 Art.361, Part 1 Art.361-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The operation was carried out jointly with the cyber police and the National Police investigators under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor's Office.