Canada: Israeli mastermind of global hacking scheme

A Canadian court ruled over the weekend that 29-year-old Ehud Tenenbaum, an Israeli suspected of hacking a Canadian company's computer system and embezzling CDN$1.8 million, will remain in custody.

Tenenbaum, who was dubbed "the analyzer" after it was discovered that he was the mastermind behind the hacking of the Pentagon computer systems in the late 1990s, was arrested in September along with three other alleged accomplices, which were placed under house arrest Friday.

He may also face possible extradition to the United States, where there is an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

According to a Sunday report in Canada's Calgary Herald, Tenenbaum in suspected of hacking the systems of one of the city's leading financial institutes.

Tenenbaum was scheduled to be released on CDN$30,000 bail, which the court denied after the prosecution entered into evidence documentation suggesting he is the leading suspect in a US case investigating the hackings of hundreds of companies around the world, including some in the US, Russia, Turkey, Holland, Sweden and Belgium.

According to the report, Federal Crown Prosecutor David Gates told the court that "Mr. Tenenbaum is alleged, by the government of the US, to be one of the principal hackers, if not the mastermind, of their entire global operation.

"As of this day, over 100 financial institutions worldwide have been identified as targets of various (Internet) chats involving Mr. Tenenbaum," he said.

Attorney John James, representing Tenenbaum, denied his client's involvement in the acts, saying any actions he might have taken were all portrayed as part of his job for a systems' security company based in Montreal.

The US Federal Prosecution now has 60 days to file an official motion to have Tenenbaum extradited to the US.