Joshua Jongsma reports:
Two New York men hacked the personal information of 50 North Jersey public employees, mostly police officers, and posted much of it online, authorities said.
Evan Koulikov, 21, of Spring Valley, New York also made harassing phone calls to many of the victims, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
Eric Williams, 24, of New City, New York helped select the victims, the Prosecutor’s Office stated.
According to the prosecutor’s press release, Koulikov was charged with:
- one count of Computer Theft, Unlawful Access And Copying Of A Database, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-25(e), a 2nd degree crime;
- one count of Computer Theft – Unlawful Access Of A Network or Database, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-25(a), a 3rd degree crime;
- one count of “Doxing” By Posting Law Enforcement Officers’ Information On The Internet, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1, a 3rd degree crime;
- one count of Stalking, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10B, a 4th degree crime,
- and one count of Harassment, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4A, a petty disorderly persons offense.
Koulikov was released with conditions following an appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on August 30, 2019.
Williams was charged with charged with one count of “Doxing” By Posting Law Enforcement Officers’ Information On The Internet, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1, a 3rd degree crime. He was also released with conditions following an appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on August 30, 2019.
But the story and press release (below the break) also state that Koulikov got the information from an unnamed “medical services database.” What medical services database would that be? Was this hack ever disclosed publicly before now? Has it even been disclosed to all those who need to be notified, including, perhaps, HHS/OCR?
This does not appear to Koulikov’s first run-in with law enforcement. He appears to be the same person who was accused in June, 2019 of drunkenly stealing a taxi and crashing it before fleeing and being arrested in New Jersey. A video of his capture in that case was uploaded online.
Read more on North Jersey Record. If anyone has access to court filings on this one, I’d love to see them. The full press release from the prosecutor appears below:
FROM: PROSECUTOR MARK MUSELLA
DATE: SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced the arrests of EVAN V. KOULIKOV (DOB: 9/16/1997; single; unemployed) of 37 Lunney Court, Spring Valley, NY on charges of Computer Theft – Unlawful Access And Copying Of A Database, Computer Theft – Unlawful Access Of A Network or Database, “Doxing” By Posting Law Enforcement Officers’ Information on the Internet, Stalking, and Harassment; and ERIC A. WILLIAMS (DOB: 1/21/1995; single; unemployed) of 4 Harriet Lane, New City, NY, on a charge of “Doxing” By Posting Law Enforcement Officers’ Information on the Internet. These arrests are the result of an investigation conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under the direction of Chief Robert Anzilotti.
In May 2019, members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit received information about a pattern of Internet “doxings” and harassing telephone calls targeting public officials from northern New Jersey. “Doxing”/”Doxxing” or “to Dox” refers to the Internet-based practice of researching and posting online the personal identifying information of another. A typical dox may include a person’s full name, date of birth or social security number, home address, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, names of relatives, or private social media usernames. In this investigation approximately 38 people, mostly police officers, were identified as the victims.
During a months-long investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit, it was determined that EVAN V. KOULIKOV unlawfully accessed a secure database of a New Jersey medical services company and unlawfully copied the personal identifying information (“PII”) of approximately 50 public employees. The data was then used to accomplish the 38 online doxings. The victims were selected, doxed, and targeted by EVAN V. KOULIKOV, culminating in 33 harassing and/or antagonizing phone calls he subsequently made to many of these 38 victims. The investigation also revealed that EVAN V. KOULIKOV enlisted the assistance of ERIC A. WILLIAMS to select victims for doxing.
As a result of the investigation, EVAN V. KOULIKOV was arrested on August 22, 2019 in Spring Valley, NY by the Spring Valley Police Department with the assistance of detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and charged with one count of Computer Theft, Unlawful Access And Copying Of A Database, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-25(e), a 2nd degree crime; one count of Computer Theft – Unlawful Access Of A Network or Database, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-25(a), a 3rd degree crime; one count of “Doxing” By Posting Law Enforcement Officers’ Information On The Internet, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1, a 3rd degree crime; one count of Stalking, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10B, a 4th degree crime, and one count of Harassment, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4A, a petty disorderly persons offense. EVAN V. KOULIKOV was released with conditions following an appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on August 30, 2019.
ERIC A. WILLIAMS was also arrested on August 22, 2019 in New City, NY by the Clarkstown Police Department with the assistance of detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and charged with one count of “Doxing” By Posting Law Enforcement Officers’ Information On The Internet, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1, a 3rd degree crime. ERIC A. WILLIAMS was released with conditions following an appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on August 30, 2019.
Prosecutor Musella states that the charges are merely an accusation and that the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutor Musella thanks the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, Rockland County Sheriff’s Department, Spring Valley and Clarkstown Police Departments, and Homeland Security Investigations – H.S.I. Newark Field Office for their assistance in this investigation.
EVAN KOULIKOV
ERIC WILLIAMS
Mark Musella
Bergen County Prosecutor
Meet The Prosecutor
Robert Anzilotti
Chief of Detectives