The Shocking Story of a Teenage Hacker Who Terrorized Thousands

In October 2020, people across Finland received a terrifying email. A hacker had broken into Vastaamo, the country’s largest private therapy center, and stolen sensitive records from tens of thousands of patients — even children. The hacker demanded €500 from each person or threatened to post their therapy notes online.

The hacker called himself “ransom_man” and bragged about his crime on Ylilauta, a Finnish forum like 4chan. But even there, users told him he had gone too far.

Behind the screen name was 23-year-old Julius Kivimäki, a Finnish hacker who had been causing online chaos since he was just 13. Also known by names like “Zeekill” and “The Untouchable Hacker God,” Kivimäki was part of several cybercrime gangs that hacked people and companies for fun, attention, and sometimes money.

His story is at the heart of Ctrl+Alt+Chaos, a new book by Joe Tidy, the BBC’s first cyber correspondent. The book looks at the dark world of teenage hackers who, especially between 2010 and 2015, took pleasure in causing harm just to get noticed online.

Many of these hackers, Tidy explains, were drawn into the scene through online gaming and cheat-code forums. They weren’t always skilled — often called “script kiddies” for using basic tools — but they were dangerous. They would attack websites, leak private data, and even use a cruel trick called "swatting": calling the police with a fake emergency so a SWAT team would show up at someone’s house.

One of Kivimäki’s targets was Blair Strater, a 17-year-old from Illinois. Kivimäki and his group harassed Blair’s family for months, hacking their accounts and sending police to their home. Blair’s mother lost her job and her marriage collapsed. Other victims weren’t as lucky — in one swatting incident, an innocent father was shot dead by police.

In another disturbing case, a teen who criticized a hacker group online was forced to cut himself and send a photo holding a sign that said “LizardSquad made me do it” to get back his stolen accounts.

Kivimäki’s crimes finally caught up with him. He was arrested and sentenced in 2022 for the Vastaamo hack and is now in prison until 2026. But his actions left lasting scars.

Tidy’s book shows how these young hackers weren’t always evil from the start. Many were lonely, bullied, or struggling at home. They found a sense of belonging in online hacker groups — but it came at a high cost to others.

Today, many of those early hacker gangs have faded. But new groups like Scattered Spider — believed to involve teenagers working with Russian cybercriminals — have taken their place. These groups are behind recent attacks on major UK retailers like Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and Harrods.

Experts say that as cybercrime moves into new spaces like the metaverse, the best defense is education. Kids need to learn the limits of what’s acceptable online. If we don’t teach them, Tidy warns, we risk creating the next generation of cybercriminals.