The Helsinki Court of Appeal sentenced Aleksanteri Kivim\u00e4ki to six years and 11 months in prison. The term stands one month short of the statutory maximum of seven years for the offences.<\/p>\n
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The court upheld the district court\u2019s findings of guilt but raised the sentence from six years and three months imposed in April 2024<\/a> by the Western Uusimaa District Court.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Kivim\u00e4ki denied all charges and sought dismissal of the case before the appeal court. Prosecutors called for a seven-year sentence.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n The case concerns the breach<\/a> of the psychotherapy centre Vastaamo\u2019s patient database in November 2018. The perpetrator accessed the system without authorisation by using user credentials that did not belong to him. The court found that the intrusion required dedicated software and a detailed technical plan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Judges stated that the offender reduced the risk of detection by using encrypted VPN connections. Servers involved in the offence relied on strong encryption methods.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n In autumn 2020, the attacker attempted to extort money from Vastaamo. When that failed, patients began to receive blackmail messages. Sensitive therapy records later appeared on the Tor network.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The court convicted Kivim\u00e4ki of aggravated data breach, aggravated attempted extortion, 20 counts of aggravated extortion, 9,231 counts of aggravated dissemination of information violating personal privacy and 20,745 counts of aggravated attempted extortion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The Court of Appeal described the crimes as a planned entity that affected an exceptionally large number of victims in a vulnerable position. It stated that the acts were conducive to causing significant suffering.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cThe offences were driven by the aim of obtaining significant financial benefit,\u201d the court said in its judgment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The judges assessed that a fair punishment would in principle have been the maximum seven-year<\/a> term. They reduced the sentence by one month because Kivim\u00e4ki reached conditional settlement agreements with numerous victims concerning compensation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreements are conditional, and according to the information presented no compensation has so far been paid by Kivim\u00e4ki,\u201d the court wrote. It added that the agreements justified only a minor mitigating effect, including possible savings in legal costs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Kivim\u00e4ki\u2019s lawyer Peter Jaari said he had discussed the judgment with his client.<\/p>\n
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