Spanish police have arrested José Luis Huertas (alias “Alcaseca”, “Mango”, “chimichuri”), a 19-year-old considered the country’s most dangerous hacker.

Huertas is believed to be responsible for several high-profile cyberattacks and the creation of a search engine called Udyat (Eye of Horus) dedicated to selling stolen sensitive information in bulk.

A police investigation opened in November 2022 eventually led to the identification and arrest of the young hacker, who was described as “a serious threat to national security”.

From Huertas’ home and other registered addresses, law enforcement officers seized large amounts of cash, documents and computers that will help uncover the hacker’s activity.

The investigation was opened after hacking the computer network of the Spanish National Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). During this attack, the hacker stole the data of 575,000 taxpayers and created a database to sell this information to other cybercriminals.

The details hosted on this illegal service include personally identifiable information, account numbers, bank numbers etc.

Huertas is also accused of impersonating Paolo Vasile, CEO of Gestevisión Telecinco/Mediaset España, and stealing 300,000 euros from him. The charges also include attacking high profile institutions and money laundering.

The hacker grew bolder with each attack, to the point that in a YouTube interview he claimed to have access to the information of approximately 90% of all Spanish citizens.

National PoliceYes that following a complex investigation, the cyber threat investigation specialists of the General Information Commissioner’s Office were able to identify the individual responsible for the attacks, a 19-year-old man with a long history in the world of cybercriminality.

According to local media details, the Spanish police were able to track down the young hacker by following the money trail for the hosting services of the “Eye of Horus” server.

Although Huertas was using cryptocurrency that had been “cleaned up” by mixing services, police could still trace the payments with the help of experts from the National Cryptological Center.

Huertas will remain in custody until his trial date, as investigators believe there is a huge risk that he will escape, destroy evidence and continue to commit similar crimes.

Judge José Luis Calama motivated his decision to keep the suspect in custody by saying that he has significant amounts of cryptocurrency that would allow him to reside anywhere in the world, avoiding the action of the Spanish justice .