As the war on our nation’s financial services and retail sectors intensifies, and private citizens’ personal information comes under attack from ever-new and insidious directions, it’s gratifying to know when the white hat contingent draws the teeth of any of the major threat actors out there. To wit, on June 24, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh C. Johnson issued a statement regarding the capture, extradition and arraignment of a particularly notorious international cybercriminal, illustrating the advancing effectiveness of cybersecurity efforts on a worldwide scale.

Johnson’s statement was as follows:

“I salute the United States Secret Service for their fine work in bringing to justice alleged international cybercriminal Ercan Findikoglu.

Today, after extradition from Frankfurt, Germany, Findikoglu was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn. He is alleged to have been a leader of an elite group of hackers who targeted entities involved in processing prepaid debit cards. The network intrusions of this group are believed to have resulted in the theft and distribution of sensitive financial data and attendant actual losses exceeding $55 million.   

This successful extradition and arraignment highlights the talent and experience of the men and women of the Secret Service in combating cybercrime, and their success in working with foreign law enforcement agencies around the world to bring to justice cybercriminals, no matter where or how they seek to hide.”