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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Accused hacker unmasked after threatening woman online [therecord.com]:

When the accused Kitchener-based hacker known online as "Waifu" threatened a woman on the messaging app Telegram, it was the beginning of his downfall.

'Waifu" had been bragging about his criminal exploits in open groups on Telegram. But when he threatened Allison Nixon, the chief research officer at the U.S. cybersecurity firm Unit221B, his days were numbered.

Nixon is the co-owner of the U.S.-based cybersecurity firm named after the home address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, and when she saw the violent threats against her, Nixon tasked one of her researchers to uncover his real identity.

After making a critical mistake in what cybersecurity types call "operational security," a member of Nixon's team was able to follow the digital bread crumb on the internet, the dark web and messaging apps to reveal "Waifu's" real identity.

[...] "We put some time into that this year, and we are basically half of the reason he got identified," said Nixon during a telephone interview. "We have had that name for months; we have been waiting for the arrest."

A Washington court issued an arrest warrant for Connor Riley Moucka, 25, for conspiracy, computer fraud and abuse, extortion in relation to computer fraud and aggravated identify theft.

[...] Moucka is alleged to be the mastermind behind the Snowflake hack — one of the biggest data breaches in history.

[...] In the more than 10 years Nixon has spent identifying cybercriminals, the man known as "Waifu" stands out for the jaw-dropping stupidity that brought the police to the quiet residential street in Kitchener where he lived in his grandfather's house.

[...] In response, "Waifu" started writing Telegram posts full of false and misleading information under different names. But he was also bragging about his crimes, and then he started attacking Nixon.

"All this accomplished was to draw a tonne of attention from a bunch of people he should never have attracted attention from," said Nixon.

[...] "The whole situation is so ironic for this Moucka person," said Nixon.

He repeatedly threatened her and her company on Telegram, which were not even working on the Snowflake hack at the time.

"Why would he target a company that is not working on his case and specializes in identifying cybercriminals?" said Nixon. "It is just the stupidest thing ever."

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