Shinyhunters Lawyer Police Release Audio Clip Suspect Odido Hack

On Opsporing Verzocht on Monday, the police played an audio clip of a suspect in the massive data theft from telecom company Odido in February. ShinyHunters, the hacker collective that claimed the Odido hack, told BNR after the broadcast that they have a lawyer ready to defend their employee.

ShinyHunters hacked Odido in early February, stealing the data of over 6.2 million Dutch people . A Dutch-speaking hacker posed as an IT specialist from the telecom company’s customer service department in a phone call and convinced an Odido employee to log into a spoofed work environment, thereby gaining access to the login details.

In July, the police called on this hacker to turn himself in . Because he failed to do so, the police played the audio recording of the call on Opsporing Verzocht, hoping someone would recognize the man’s voice.

In a statement to BNR, ShinyHunters confirmed that the suspect in the audio clip is a member of the hacker collective. “Our team member has our full support - emotionally, mentally, and financially,” the hackers said. “Everything has been arranged, including a criminal defense lawyer. We do not look down on our staff and members; we take excellent care of them.”

The group also lashed out at the Dutch police. “The Dutch police will need all the luck in the world - and everyone’s prayers - if they want to catch him before we carry out another large-scale data theft in the Netherlands. Frankly, the Dutch police are a big joke; they are incapable of doing anything. Incompetent. Irrelevant. Unimportant. Useless.”

A spokesperson for the police told BNR that they could not on the case as the investigation is ongoing. “We have said what we wanted to say, and we are continuing our for the man.”

On Opsporing Verzocht, the police asked anyone who may recognize the man’s voice to come forward. “The man speaks proper Dutch and has certain distinctive vocal characteristics that might make him recognizable - especially to family, friends and acquaintances,” a police spokesperson said on the program.

The officer noted that the hacker specifically used English IT jargon on the call. “He may have personal experience in such a workplace, or otherwise know how operations are conducted in a department like that.”

The hackers demanded a ransom of €1 million to prevent the stolen data from being leaked. Odido refused to pay the ransom, and ShinyHunters published the stolen data on the dark web.

According to the police, victims of the breach have been bombarded with phishing emails on a large scale since the hack.