The US Department of Justice suspected the head of the network security department of Group-IB of involvement in the Formspring hack

US authorities suspect Nikita Kislitsin, head of Group-IB's network security department, of plotting to sell stolen data. The corresponding indictment from 2014 was published by the US Department of Justice on March 2, Cyberscoop reports.

According to the US Department of Justice, in 2012 Kislitsin's accomplice stole the Formspring user database, including account passwords, after which Kislitsin tried to sell it to another hacker for $5,500.

The Kislitsin-related episode refers to the case against Russian hacker Yevgeny Nikulin, who is accused by US authorities of being involved in the Formspring, LinkedIn and Dropbox hack. The trial of Nikulin, who was detained in the Czech Republic in 2016 and extradited to the United States, will begin on March 9.

Group-IB, in its official statement, emphasized that in 2012 Kislitsin had no relation to the company, while noting that in any case he would support his employee. Group-IB also noted that the case materials published so far do not contain direct evidence and that neither the company nor Kislitsin have received any subpoenas from the US authorities in connection with the case.

• Group-IB is one of the leading Russian cyberattack prevention companies.
• Before joining Group-IB, Nikita Kislitsin was the editor-in-chief of Hacker magazine, a specialized publication dedicated to programming and information security issues, for six years.