Kislitsyn Nikita

Kislitsyn Nikita

Biography

2023: Detention in Kazakhstan after U.S. extradition request

On June 22, 2023, Nikita Kislitsyn was detained in Kazakhstan, who is in charge of the F.A.C.C.T. (formerly Group-IB in Russia and the CIS) for developing a network security business. This was reported in the press service of the company.

For now, Nikita Kislitsyn is in temporary detention in Kazakhstan to study the grounds for extradition arrest at the request of the United States, the F.A.C.C.T. said in a statement on June 28, 2023.

Kislitsin leads the F.A.C.C.T department in developing solutions to comprehensively counter complex cyber attacks. The company, citing available information, argues that the claims against him do not relate to work at the F.A.C.C.T, but are related to the events of a decade ago, when he worked as a journalist and independent researcher. In 2006-2012, Kislitsin was the editor-in-chief of Hacker magazine.

We are convinced that there are no legal grounds for detention in Kazakhstan. The company hired lawyers who have been providing Nikita with all the necessary assistance since last week, and we also sent an appeal to the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Kazakhstan to assist in the defense of our employee, the F.A.C.C.T.

The US Department of Justice claims that in 2012, a top manager was involved in hacking the Formspring social network, stealing user data and trying to sell it. He is currently in custody in Kazakhstan, the grounds for his arrest are being studied as part of the US request for his extradition.

On June 28, 2023, it became known that the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs had put Kislitsin on the wanted list. Information about this appeared in the search database of the department. As the basis in the card, it is indicated that he is "wanted under the article of the Criminal Code," but it is not specified which one. At the same time, in the database of the Tver court of Moscow there is information about the petition of the investigation to arrest "Kislitsin N. I." under part 3 of article 272 of the Criminal Code (illegal access to computer information organized by a group of persons, up to five years in prison): the court satisfied him.^[1]

Notes