Finnish Court Sentences 'Zeekill' to 6.5 Years for Vastaamo Hack
A Finnish court has sentenced Julius 'Zeekill' Kivimäki to over six years in prison for a series of cybercrimes, including the 2020 hack of the Vastaamo Psychotherapy Center. The 26-year-old targeted 22,000 patients, leaking sensitive records and attempting extortion.
Kivimäki's involvement in cybercrime dates back to 2008 when he joined the hacker group Hack the Planet (HTP). By 2012, he was selling access to compromised servers as a DDoS-for-hire service. His criminal activities escalated in 2014 when he made a bomb threat against Sony's John Smedley, grounding an American Airlines plane.
In 2020, Kivimäki targeted Vastaamo, demanding 40 bitcoins (~450,000 euros) not to publish sensitive therapy notes. When Vastaamo declined, he shifted to extorting individual patients. The prosecution demanded at least seven years in jail, but his sentence was reduced to six years and three months due to his agreement to pay compensation to victims.
Kivimäki's sentence follows the firing and prosecution of Ville Tapio, Vastaamo's former CEO, who received a three-month suspended sentence in April 2023. The court's decision sends a strong message against cybercrime, with Kivimäki's extensive criminal history and the severity of his actions taken into account.
