Did I miss it? (The article is dense.) I'm not seeing how the authorities identified him. I see lots of identifying information from disparate sources, which when taken collectively does seem damning. But not how it all got put together, nor any discussion of why now.
I mean the guy offered his own $10m bounty if you could track him down.
I knew back when the Boeing data got out, that it was a fatal mistake and he'd be hunted down. It obviously wasn't easy since the $10m would have been enough incentive for the army of internet super sleuths. I don't care at all about what the bits and pieces are, what I want to know is the HOW. as per the title
No one knows for sure. There’s no published direct link between the two identities. However, the article identifies years worth of ransom crypto transactions / bank deposits + FBI deep infiltration of LockBit as important advantages.
He messaged Omniscient / "the admin" on a HackForums / another HF clone site, asking about a PII dump with his own personal Gmail being specified, inquiring about GREP help.
When the entire DB leaked, his personal message was the most obvious one.
You all think these people are cyber geniuses, but really, just sufficiently advanced scum bags in socioeconomically-disadvantaged, politically convenient areas to operate these neo-scams.
I went poring through international news while looking for old friends recently, and the utter fear and revulsion the world had against "hackers" 20 years ago is wild to contemplate.
Federal prosecutors were using CFAA against people submitting bug reports against Microsoft products, the news was amplifying things out of control, and the FBI was extraditing foreign citizens over practices that are commonplace to SV business models today.
It's astounding that what amounts to a "hacker mindset" is mere curiosity and reason, and how well it has been stamped out of the general populace.
I mean the guy offered his own $10m bounty if you could track him down.
I knew back when the Boeing data got out, that it was a fatal mistake and he'd be hunted down. It obviously wasn't easy since the $10m would have been enough incentive for the army of internet super sleuths. I don't care at all about what the bits and pieces are, what I want to know is the HOW. as per the title