He is also suspected of attempted incitement to commit two murders, according to police.

Dutch police arrested a 24-year-old man from Amsterdam earlier this month over his alleged involvement with the prolific threat group ShinyHunters.

The detainee – reportedly the chief technology officer and security lead at a Dutch cybersecurity company – is also suspected of planning to carry out two murders, a statement from police read. The attempted murder charges are unrelated to their investigation into ShinyHunters, they clarified.

Active since around 2019, ShinyHunters is a cybercriminal group infamous for large-scale data theft and massive extortion demands. The group has, in recent months, taken responsibility for attacks on the FBI, the European Commission and popular education management platform Canvas.

It has also been linked to attacks against Salesforce, Ticketmaster and AT&T. Google’s security unit recently said that ShinyHunters hacked into Oracle’s systems again, after bypassing new barriers put up by the company.

Joint global efforts have led to a number of arrests in relation to the group; a 22-year-old French citizen was sentenced to three years in a US prison in 2024 for conspiring to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. A number of other arrests, also in France, were made last year.

Following the Amsterdam 24-year-old’s arrest on 15 September, Dutch authorities said they found a “large amount of information” on his laptop, including details about two murders that were to be committed abroad. Police suspect he may have given orders for the acts to take place.

The suspect is being held in complete isolation for now, police said. He will remain in pre-trial detention for at least another 90 days. Further arrests are not yet ruled out, the authorities added.

“As we speak, FBI teams are actively working with partners to obtain and execute more leads in the ongoing investigation based on this arrest,” FBI director Kash Patel wrote in a post on X yesterday (29 September).

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.