MIA operation: hacker selling personal data of influential people detained

Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies have successfully detained a hacker who specialized in the illegal collection and sale of personal data of citizens, including influential people in the country, Report informs citing the Azerbaijani MIA. The special operation was carried out by employees of the Main Department for Combating Cybercrime.

According to the investigation, the detained Baku resident Huseyn Maharramov developed a scheme for illegally penetrating the databases of various government service portals.

The investigation established that Maharramov did not act alone. He received specialized passwords and software tools for hacking secure systems from foreign cybercriminal groups, which allowed him to gain unauthorized access to servers with confidential information.

After gaining access to personal data, Maharramov organized the sale of the stolen information through anonymous channels on Telegram and other social networks.

To attract clients, he used a special marketing strategy – he placed advertisements in which he demonstrated fragments of personal data of famous and influential people in Azerbaijan. In this way, he convincingly proved to potential buyers that for a certain fee he could obtain information about almost anyone.

Employees of the Main Department for Combating Cybercrime deleted all the personal data he had collected and blocked all channels of his illegal access to information systems. The fact of hacking and illegal access was confirmed by an examination of the obtained electronic evidence.

At the moment, the investigation of the criminal case against Magerramov has been fully completed, and the materials have been transferred to the court for further consideration. However, the police continue to carry out operational activities in close cooperation with the police agencies of a number of countries to identify and detain Magerramov’s accomplices who may be outside of Azerbaijan.

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