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Ryan James Roach, age 35, has been sent to the U.S. following an indictment for allegedly hacking university supercomputers to engage in cryptocurrency mining.
Roach, a resident of Saskatoon and Regina, made an appearance in federal court in Rochester, New York, on November 3. According to the court’s information to CBC News, the scheduled detention hearing did not proceed as Roach requested more time to prepare. A new date for the hearing has not been established.
A federal grand jury has charged both Roach and Mathiew James Stubbings, 41, from Ontario, with crimes such as conspiracy to access and damage protected computers, illegally obtaining information from a protected computer, and intentional damage to a protected computer. Each offense could lead to a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 USD.
Roach has entered a plea of not guilty, as stated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
He was extradited from Canada on October 28 and is being held while awaiting the detention hearing.
Stubbings’ extradition proceedings are still ongoing in Canada.
Case Overview
The indictment claims that Roach and Stubbings executed their operation from June 2016 to December 2019. Prosecutors allege that they accessed supercomputers, compromised login details, and mined cryptocurrency for profit.
The two purportedly utilized virtual private servers in various nations, registered under fictitious identities.
“These servers disseminated malware and mining software to target computers and stored pilfered login details,” according to the indictment.
The U.S. seeks extradition of a Saskatoon resident accused of hacking universities for cryptocurrency.
Prosecutors indicate that the victims included universities across New York, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. They allege that the men specifically targeted institutions with advanced supercomputers while probing for vulnerabilities in their systems.
“Roach and Stubbings covertly accessed victim computers without permission, employed malware to gain control, extracted victim login credentials, transferred data to servers they managed, and compelled victim computers to utilize their processing capacity for mining cryptocurrency, benefitting the defendants financially,” claims the indictment.
The indictment asserts that the accused caused damage to over ten protected computers within a year, resulting in losses of at least $5,000 USD.
Extradition Ruling in Saskatchewan
In May, a judge from Saskatchewan’s Court of King’s Bench determined that the evidence presented by U.S. authorities met Canada’s standards for extradition.
Court documents reviewed by CBC indicate that U.S. prosecutors allege Roach conspired with another Canadian to breach at least one educational institution in New York state during 2017, pilfering over 1,900 login credentials, installing malware, and using the school’s supercomputer to mine Electroneum cryptocurrency.
The breach incurred approximately $337,000 USD in damages for the institution, covering system shutdowns, forensic investigations, and the rebuilding of compromised infrastructure, as stated in the documents.
According to court filings, FBI agents traced a digital footprint back to Roach, utilizing IP addresses, server logs, email data, and hosting records for their investigation.