A Canadian man has been dragged to court for running a website that collected stolen data of individuals of over three billion accounts, and then exchanged them for profits.
According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, those stolen data that were sold on the site include those from the LinkedIn and Ashley Madison massive data breach. Some of the stolen data could also be used to access other popular websites if the user used the same login credentials.
Bloom was charged in December as part of a criminal probe hich lasted more than a year. Dubbed "Project Adoration", the probe focused on trafficking in personal data, unauthorised use of computers, and possession of illicitly obtained property.
"The RCMP will continue to work diligently with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to prosecute online criminality," Inspector Rafael Alvarado said in a statement.
The Canadian authorities have shut down the website operated by Bloom, however, another website with the same domain hosted by Russian servers is still operating.
The police have acknowledged that assist that they got from the Dutch National Police and the FBI were 'essential' to the investigation.