Finnish teen convicted of hacking 50,700 computers

ESPOO, Finland, July 8 (UPI) -- A Finnish teenager was convicted Wednesday for carrying out over 50,000 computer break-ins.

Julius Kivimaki, 17, was found guilty by the District Court of Espoo of 50,700 cases of aggravated hacking, disruption of telecommunications, theft and aggravated breaches of secrecy of communications. Using the nickname Zeekill, his actions included use of stolen credit card numbers to make online purchases, money laundering and pranks, which included the moving of network traffic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the servers of Harvard University.

Kivimaki exploited vulnerabilities he discovered in an Adobe software program, ColdFusion, by installing "backdoors" on computers, allowing him to retrieve information.

The court noted he was 15 or 16 when the crimes occurred in 2012 and 2013, and issued a two-year suspended sentence. He is obliged, though, to repay 6,588 Euros ($7,282) for purchases he made.

Kivimaki had previously been linked to Lizard Squad, a notorious hacking ring involved in cyberattacks on Microsoft and Sony. Lizard Squad was not mentioned in Kivimaki's court documents.