Spanish Police Arrest Prolific 19-Year-Old Hacker

Spanish authorities arrested 19-year-old hacker José Luis Huertas, also known as ‘Alcasec,’ after he compromised a database belonging to Punto Neutro of the General Council of the Judiciary.

While on probation for the hack of Punto Neutro of the General Council of the Judiciary, Alcasec allegedly hit a company in Granada, landing him in jail. Since he’s no longer a minor, his stay will be much longer if convicted.

The hacker was active for many years and started bragging about his exploits when he was only 14. He learned the necessary skills from YouTube tutorials and said he had no particular agenda; just trying to prove that he could do it. That might not be entirely true, as some of the information he stole from various hacks made its way to the black market for sale.

Immediately after his arrest, the magistrate denied bail, considering him a flight risk.

“He has significant amounts of cryptocurrencies that would allow him to have sufficient liquidity to reside anywhere in the world, avoiding the action of Spanish justice; or destroy evidence; or that he continues to commit more crimes,” said Judge José Luis Calama.

From what the investigators have shared so far, the hacker used a number of aliases and didn’t try to cover his tracks. He often bragged about various hacks and, according to an El Pais report, he “stored data from 90% of the Spanish people.”

The Spanish National Police says that Huertas is a dangerous computer criminal whose only objective was to make money from hacks and that he was far from a modern “Robin Hood.”