Canadian citizen allegedly involved in Snowflake attacks consents to extradition to US

Connor Moucka, a 26-year-old arrested at the behest of U.S. authorities in October in Kitchener, Ontario, faces 20 federal charges.

A Canadian citizen is one step closer to standing trial in the United States for his alleged involvement in a series of attacks targeting as many as 165 Snowflake customers, one of the most widespread and damaging attack sprees on record. 

Connor Moucka consented to extradition on Friday to face 20 federal charges, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, accessing protected computers without authorization, transmitting threats to undermine the confidentiality of information, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Moucka, who used several aliases online, including “Waifu,” “Judische,” “Catist” and “Ellyel8,” was arrested Oct. 30, 2024, in Kitchener, a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, at the behest of U.S. authorities. Federal prosecutors released their indictment of Moucka and one of his co-conspirators, John Binns, in November. 

Moucka, 26, consented to extradition to the U.S. in writing before Ian Smith, a judge in the Superior Court of Justice in Kitchener. Signing the consent to surrender under Canada’s Extradition Act as Alexander Moucka/Connor Moucka, he waived the requirement for a 30-day waiting period.

Researchers believe Moucka, Binns, and another co-conspirator, Cameron Wagenius, are associated with “The Com,” an online ecosystem of groups and individuals who engage in cybercrime, violence, extortion, kidnappings, shootings and robberies. 

U.S. authorities last month said Wagenius, a 21-year-old U.S. Army soldier, attempted to sell stolen sensitive information to a foreign intelligence service. Wagenius was arrested in December and previously filed a notice of intent to plead guilty to unlawfully posting and transferring confidential phone records. 

Moucka and Binns allegedly attempted to extort more than 10 organizations and obtained ransoms from victims valued at approximately $2.5 million, according to the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington in November.

The attacks targeting Snowflake customer environments exposed hundreds of millions of sensitive records and ensnared large enterprises, including AT&T, Ticketmaster, Advance Auto Parts and others.

The date of Moucka’s extradition to the U.S. is unknown. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

You can read the full consent to surrender and order of committal below.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

• Dogged Russia-based botnet dismantled after 23-year run

• FBI raises alarm over deceptive phishing campaign targeting prominent people

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure