Canadian Man Extradited to US in University Supercomputer Crypto Mining Plot

university supercomputers crypto mining — A Canadian man has been extradited to the United States to face charges for allegedly conspiring to hijack university supercomputers to mine cryptocurrency.

Ryan Roach, 31, was extradited from Canada to appear in a U.S. federal court in Massachusetts on Monday. He and a co-defendant are accused of targeting U.S. universities with high-performance computing clusters.

Prosecutors allege the pair stole login credentials to gain unauthorized access to the supercomputers. They then allegedly installed cryptocurrency mining software to secretly use the institutions’ substantial computing power for profit.

The case highlights the persistent threat of cryptojacking, where attackers covertly use victims’ hardware to mine digital assets. University supercomputers are a prime target due to their powerful processors, which can generate significant mining revenue if compromised.