The next trial was held in the criminal case of Tural Aliyev, the executive director of “Zeromap” LLC, who was arrested as a result of an operation conducted by the State Security Service and accused of creating programs that penetrate mobile phones and other technical equipment from the outside and illegally seizing computer data.
In the trial held at the Yasamal District Court, chaired by Judge Rashad Javadzade, the defendant’s lawyer asked the court to allow his client to testify again since he had rejoined the case.
Tural Aliyev testified again.
He said that the direction of his action was to check the security of the system:
I consider myself guilty of attempting to illegally interfere with the server of “Ultra Technologies” LLC. I just wanted to gain influence in this world. That’s why I was surrounded by experienced people. At the same time, I checked the security of the servers of various companies.”
The judge asked the accused questions about the equipment found on him during his detention and the programs inside that equipment.
To the lawyer’s question, “Did you have the idea to illegally interfere with the systems of “Ultra Technologies” LLC?”, he replied that his purpose was only to check:
“I am an expert. Checking comes from my work. I met this company on a forum. Hundreds of people like me participated in that forum. During the check, I saw that there were gaps there.”
Tural Aliyev said that he considers himself partially guilty in the criminal case because he did not physically enter the system of “Ultra Technologies” LLC:
“I did not secretly enter the servers of “Ultra Technologies” LLC. I conducted a check. However, the login was still on my device. When the device was activated again, it automatically logged in.”
The accused said that the programs he used were audit-type and that the company was informed if gaps were discovered:
“The program I developed was a major project for Azerbaijan. For this, I had to introduce myself. I also informed Hikmet Abdullayev, the head of Idrak Company, about the software. I kept that software on my own equipment.”
It was revealed in court that the accused contacted a person named “User Elshan” and had small discussions with him about intrusions into the companies’ systems. A VPN was used for privacy.
The accused obtained 25 MB of data from an Israeli state-owned company and 1 MB from a US-owned company.
The accused also had connections with the “Alfa Black Cat” cybercriminal gang. Thus, Tural Aliyev contacted a person nicknamed “Carnival” in late 2023 and sold him the login information of a company for $500. He also received the payment in the form of cryptocurrency.
At the same time, the accused sold the information of a maritime company located in Argentina to individuals.
The trial will continue on May 1.
It should be noted that Tural Aliyev was arrested as a result of an operation conducted by the State Security Service was detained.
The accused was charged under Articles 271.2.1 (illegal access to a computer system), 272.2.1 (illegal seizure of computer data) and 273-1.1 (circulation of means prepared for committing cybercrimes) of the Criminal Code.
The indictment states that the accused hacked into the mobile phones and computer systems of local and foreign individuals and legal entities for 4 years and read their messages.
In addition, Tural also gained access to the non-public information of foreign companies as a result of cyberattacks.
