Catch-up: this case reached court this week, though the alleged conduct dates back several years. Two Canadian men have been charged in the United States with hacking university computers and secretly using them to mine cryptocurrency, after one of them was extradited from Canada last week.

A grand jury in the Western District of New York indicted Ryan James Roach, 35, of Saskatchewan, and Mathiew James Stubbings, 41, of Ontario, on charges including conspiracy to obtain information from, and to damage, a protected computer, and intentionally damaging a protected computer. Each charge carries up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A scheme prosecutors say ran for three and a half years

According to the indictment, the two men conspired between June 2016 and December 2019 to hack into computers, steal login credentials and secretly mine cryptocurrency. Prosecutors say they targeted educational institutions in New York, Tennessee, North Carolina and Massachusetts — particularly those with access to supercomputers — and researched security weaknesses in the victims' networks.

The pair allegedly used virtual private servers in several countries, registered under false names, and routed their activity through other victims' compromised computers to hide their identities. The indictment says they damaged 10 or more protected computers within a one-year period, causing a loss of at least $5,000.

One extradited, one still in Canada

Roach was extradited from Canada to the United States on 28 October and was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Mark W. Pedersen on 3 November. He was held pending a detention hearing. Extradition proceedings against Stubbings are continuing in Canada.

The case was investigated by the FBI with the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. The charges are allegations only, and both men are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Sources: US Department of Justice, Canadian man extradited to US for his role in computer hacking scheme targeting universities, 3 November 2026; BleepingComputer, US charges two Canadians accused of hacking US universities, 4 November 2026; Cybernews, Canadian hackers hijack university computers, 5 November 2026.