Pirate Bay founder held in new hacking probe
Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, who faces a year-long prison sentence for promoting copyright infringement, was detained on new computer hacking suspicions when he landed in Sweden on Tuesday morning.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Swedish Prosecution Authority (Åklagarmyndigheten), Warg is suspected of having hacked into the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) as well as Swedish IT firm Logica, which supplies services to the agency.
"During a preliminary investigation concerning computer hacking at the company Logica and the Swedish Tax Agency during the spring, suspicions were directed at one person, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg," the Prosecution Authority wrote.
The agency added, however, that Warg's August 30th arrest in Cambodia and subsequent deportation from the country on Monday were due to an arrest warrant issued for him in relation to his conviction in the Pirate Bay trial.
Shortly after Warg's arrest, reports emerged that he was wanted in an investigation into a hacker attack against Logica and the tax agency.
According to a September 6th report in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper, the attacks gave the hackers access to a sizeable amount of protected personal information.
The attack is believed to have started in 2010 and continued until April of this year.
Warg, and his fellow co-founders Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde, as well as financier Carl Lundström, were all convicted in 2009 of facilitating copyright infringement and ordered to pay 46 million kronor ($6.9 million) in damages to the music and movie industry.
While Neij, Sunde, and Lundström all had their 12-month sentences reduced to between four and 10 months on appeal in late 2010, Warg did not attend his appeal hearing and his one-year sentence was upheld.
Prosecutors now have until Friday to issue a remand order for Warg related to the new computer hacking suspicions.
The Local/dl
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According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Swedish Prosecution Authority (Åklagarmyndigheten), Warg is suspected of having hacked into the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) as well as Swedish IT firm Logica, which supplies services to the agency.
"During a preliminary investigation concerning computer hacking at the company Logica and the Swedish Tax Agency during the spring, suspicions were directed at one person, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg," the Prosecution Authority wrote.
The agency added, however, that Warg's August 30th arrest in Cambodia and subsequent deportation from the country on Monday were due to an arrest warrant issued for him in relation to his conviction in the Pirate Bay trial.
Shortly after Warg's arrest, reports emerged that he was wanted in an investigation into a hacker attack against Logica and the tax agency.
According to a September 6th report in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper, the attacks gave the hackers access to a sizeable amount of protected personal information.
The attack is believed to have started in 2010 and continued until April of this year.
Warg, and his fellow co-founders Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde, as well as financier Carl Lundström, were all convicted in 2009 of facilitating copyright infringement and ordered to pay 46 million kronor ($6.9 million) in damages to the music and movie industry.
While Neij, Sunde, and Lundström all had their 12-month sentences reduced to between four and 10 months on appeal in late 2010, Warg did not attend his appeal hearing and his one-year sentence was upheld.
Prosecutors now have until Friday to issue a remand order for Warg related to the new computer hacking suspicions.
The Local/dl
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