The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) suspected involvement of another person in the Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo data breach, said NBI in a press release on Thursday.
The person is suspected of aiding and abetting aggravated extortion and aggravated dissemination of information violating personal privacy.
The suspect, who lives in Estonia, is suspected of aiding and abetting aggravated extortion and aggravated dissemination of information violating personal privacy.
It is suspected that this person was involved in the preparation of material for the extortion targeted at Vastaamo and participated in the attempted extortion against the company and the dissemination of sensitive customer information on the internet.
The person is not suspected of extortion against the customers of Vastaamo.
“We concluded earlier during the investigation that the suspect had acted alone or with another person. As a result of the criminal investigation, we have now established that, in addition to the suspect who was previously charged in the case, this other person is also a suspect in the case,” said Head of Investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Marko Leponen of the NBI.
The new suspect has not been apprehended during the criminal investigation, but the police have taken investigative measures on the suspect by means of mutual legal assistance with the Estonian police.
The case will be submitted to the prosecutor for consideration of charges on 19 May 2025.
The persons who were identified as victims and who made their statements and claims during the original criminal process have been contacted directly by the NBI. They are informed that they are parties to the case under investigation and that they do not have to file a report to the police or take any other action in the case.
“The statements and claims made during the previous criminal investigation concerning hacking against Vastaamo will remain valid for the current investigation as well, and the victims need not take any action,” Leponen said.
The police have contacted around 9,000 persons.
Earlier in April 2024, Western Uusimaa District Court convicted one person in this case and sentenced him to 6 years and 3 months in prison.
Police in February, 2024 arrested Vastaamo data breach suspect Aleksanteri Kivimäki from a private apartment in Helsinki.
In 2020, Vastamo announced that sensitive information about its clients was leaked after its database was hacked.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been investigating into the incidents since autumn 2020.
The board of the psychotherapy centre Vastaamo in October, 2020 terminated the centre’s Chief Executive Officer Ville Tapio following the large-scale data hacking.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
