Canada Arrests Suspected Hacker Behind Snowflake Data Breach

Canadian authorities have arrested a man suspected of being the hacker behind this year’s series of data breaches targeting Snowflake, a widely-used cloud data platform.

This arrest is a major development in the investigation of high-profile cyberattacks impacting prominent organizations, including AT&T, Ticketmaster, and LendingTree.

The hacker, operating under the aliases “Judische” and “Waifu,” is suspected to be connected to over 165 breaches of Snowflake instances.

These cyberattacks have heightened concerns within the tech industry, as Snowflake serves a vast number of businesses for secure data storage and analytics.

The arrest follows months of coordinated efforts among cybersecurity researchers and international law enforcement agencies.

Authorities collaborated closely with researchers to track the hacker, who, according to reports, had been under surveillance for some time. A recent investigative report by 404 Media disclosed that experts had been actively gathering vital information to identify the suspect. 404 Media had maintained contact with the hacker, known as Judische, until late October.

The last message from Judische surfaced on October 27, in which they expressed apprehension about a potential arrest. Earlier in October, Judische told 404 Media, “I’ve destroyed a lot of evidence and sabotaged what I couldn’t destroy. So if I get caught, it’s just a conspiracy charge I can bond out of and fight.”

However, despite these assertions, law enforcement successfully gathered sufficient evidence to proceed with the arrest.

Authorities have withheld the hacker’s identity and specific details regarding the charges. However, this case underscores the rising threat of cybercrime and the critical role of international cooperation in combating it.

As investigations proceed, affected companies are assessing the scope of the breaches and strengthening their security measures to mitigate future incidents.