A former Dutch cybersecurity professional was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of hacking and blackmailing more than a dozen companies in the Netherlands and worldwide.
The suspect, a 21-year-old man from Zandvoort named Pepijn Van der Stap, has been convicted on multiple charges, including hacking into victims' computers, extortion, and laundering at least 2.5 million euros in cryptocurrency.
The court
sentenced him to four years of imprisonment, with one year being conditional, accompanied by a three-year probationary period. The verdict follows an extensive investigation conducted by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, which asked for a six-year prison sentence.
Van der Stap, along with his accomplices, was involved in a series of cybercrimes that targeted both domestic and international companies and institutions between August 2020 and January 2023,
according to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service.
The group resorted to blackmail as a means of extorting large amounts of money from targeted companies, threatening to leak the stolen data online unless a ransom was paid. Additionally, Van der Stap infiltrated various networks, stealing sensitive data from compromised companies and organizations.
When searching his computer, law enforcement agents found various malicious tools and personal information stolen from millions of individuals, acquired through hacking, purchases, or exchanges with other cyber criminals, and put up for sale on various hacking forums.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service also revealed that Van der Stap helped other criminals by selling or trading this stolen sensitive data, causing millions in damages to the affected organizations.
