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The hacker who humiliated spyware makers and was never caught
Over the last few decades, several mysterious hackers have captured the public’s imagination, but none quite like Phineas Fisher. A decade after their most famous hack, Phineas remains, by most accounts, the most prolific and public hacker never to have been caught.
As part of our series on the biggest cybersecurity mysteries of all time, we’re delving into the enigma of Phineas, the hacktivist who hacked controversial spyware makers FinFisher and Hacking Team. The latter, an Italian startup, was among the first to turn government spyware into a viable global business, paving the way for spyware makers such as the Israeli NSO Group. Phineas’ hack against Hacking Team eventually led to the startup’s demise years later.
Apart from Anonymous, an amorphous amalgam of hacktivists with a mixed track record of mostly stunt hacks designed to gather publicity rather than have real impact, Phineas is perhaps the most well-known hacktivist in history. Their story is made of impressive hacks and endless unanswered questions.
Who is Phineas Fisher?
Variously called an anarchist, a cybercriminal, a hacktivist, and a vigilante, the hacker has said they “use a lot of different names” for different hacking escapades.
The hacks we know about were big enough to turn Phineas into a legend among hackers. “I would like to meet Phineas Fisher so that I could buy them a seven-course, three-Michelin-star dinner somewhere and listen to them explain how they turned Hacking Team inside out like a gym sock,” a well-known security researcher once wrote on Twitter. There’s even a song about them.
Phineas first emerged in August 2014, when they announced they had hacked Gamma Group, the makers of the FinFisher spyware — which is where the nickname comes from. They publicized the hack via a Twitter account cheekily called @GammaGroupPR, leaking stolen data including mobile spyware, product manuals, and a price list. The damage was limited, and FinFisher carried on. Phineas published a post-mortem that doubled as a leftist manifesto, then vanished.
A year later, they came back with a bang, hacking Hacking Team, another spyware maker. They took practically everything: more than 400 gigabytes including source code, tens of thousands of internal emails, confidential contracts, and customer lists. The leak allowed journalists to reveal scandals in Ecuador, Mexico, and Panama. Years later, Hacking Team’s CEO David Vincenzetti was forced to sell his company for one euro. For some former employees, Phineas’ hack was the beginning of the end.
Phineas went on to hack the union of the Mossos d’Esquadra, which is the police force of Catalonia, publishing a post-mortem and a 39-minute tutorial video — consistent with their stated anti-police ideals. Their next victim was the ruling party of Turkey’s authoritarian president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a hack motivated by solidarity with Rojava, a leftist autonomous region in northern and eastern Syria that Turkey was fighting against.
Phineas’ last known victim was Cayman National Bank’s branch in the Isle of Man, a self-governing island between England and Ireland. The hack hinted at a different side of Phineas. “I look for illegal ways to make money in order to free my time so I can do something useful with it. Once I had that figured out, I started scaling it up and making more money than I need and giving the extra away,” Phineas said in an interview with activist Freddy Martinez. (Phineas donated at least $10,000 in Bitcoin to Rojava.)
Phineas kept the hack — which happened in 2016 — quiet for three years later before announcing the “Hacktivist Bug Bounty Program,” an initiative to reward hacktivists who expose companies’ illegal and unethical activities. When Cayman National Bank confirmed the hack, it claimed it “was amongst a number of banks targeted.” Phineas confirmed they had been hacking several banks for years.
That was their last public appearance. Their Twitter and Reddit accounts have long since been deleted, leaving no online trail. FinFisher never contacted law enforcement, according to a former company employee. The Italian authorities’ investigation into the Hacking Team hack ended without finding any evidence pointing to Phineas’ real identity. What I can say, from my own reporting, is that Phineas is alive and well — they have been in contact with me within the last couple of years.
So who is Phineas Fisher? Taking their claims at face value, they’re a hacktivist with anarchist ideals, but also a cybercriminal. Could they instead be a fabricated persona controlled by a spy agency — Russia, say, which has a history of inventing hacktivists to muddy the waters after its own hacks? Phineas has denied being a Russian spy, and it’s unclear why Moscow would go after all of Phineas’ chosen targets.
Their origins are equally murky. Phineas has name-dropped Spanish-speaking anarchists, wrote the Hacking Team post-mortem in Spanish, and followed numerous Latin American leftist accounts on Twitter. They told me their first language is neither English nor Spanish, though they have acknowledged living in a Spanish-speaking country. It’s all worth taking with a grain of salt. “Everything I say that contains clues about my identity is half trolling,” Phineas once told me. “I’m in the habit of saying misinformation.”
It’s also possible that the Phineas persona was passed around between 2014 and 2019 and used by different individuals. But there is no evidence of that, and after 10 years of conversations, my gut says Phineas truly is the hacktivist they claim to be.
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The Plateau State Government has ordered the immediate temporary closure of all public and private primary and secondary schools across the state following suspected cases of diphtheria reported in four Local Government Areas.
Politics Nigeria reports that the directive, which takes effect from Monday, September 7, 2026, will remain in force indefinitely, with the government expected to announce a new date for the resumption of academic activities.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Saturday by the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Joyce Lohya Ramnap.
The government said suspected diphtheria cases had been recorded in Jos North, Wase, Jos South and Bassa Local Government Areas, prompting the authorities to take precautionary measures to prevent further spread of the disease.
According to the statement, the directive applies to both public and private schools, including institutions that had already resumed academic activities.
School proprietors, administrators and teachers were directed to comply immediately, while parents and guardians were advised to keep their children and wards at home throughout the period of the closure.
The government explained that the measure was intended to safeguard pupils, students and members of staff amid concerns over the suspected infections.
“Further information on the resumption of academic activities will be communicated to the public in due course,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, tension has also been reported in Mangu Local Government Area following an attack on two residents returning from mining activities between Gaude and Mangu Halle.
One person was killed while another sustained gunshot injuries after suspected armed militia members attacked the victims at about 8:10pm on Thursday.
According to counter-insurgency publication Zagazola Makama, troops of Sector 8, Sub-Sector 81, deployed at Gyambwas, responded to a distress call and moved to the scene.
The troops reportedly found one of the victims, identified as Lanyet Bala, with a gunshot wound to his leg, while the attackers had fled.
A subsequent search-and-rescue operation was launched for the second victim, identified as Kwonan.
His remains were later discovered within the general area, according to the report.
Bala was evacuated to Allah Nakowa Hospital in Mangu for medical treatment.
The troops have since commenced offensive operations in the area and launched a manhunt for the fleeing attackers.
In another related development, the Berom Youth Moulders-Association (BYM) has condemned fresh attacks by suspected armed Fulani terrorists in Rim and Wereng communities in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, which reportedly claimed the lives of two youths.
The victims were identified as 39-year-old Joel Bwede and 22-year-old Justice Dadong.
In a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Rwang Tengwong, the association expressed concern over what it described as the growing frequency of attacks and the loss of human lives in the state.
The BYM said it was particularly disturbed that victims of recurring violence were increasingly being reduced to statistics in reports of killings.
“Each casualty represents a family shattered, dreams cut short, and a community left traumatised,” the association said.
It warned that the persistent attacks must not be allowed to become the new normal in Plateau State, while calling on the Federal and state governments, as well as security agencies, to intensify efforts to protect residents and their property.
“The protection of lives and property is a primary responsibility of government, as expressly provided under Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the association said.
The group demanded increased security presence in vulnerable communities, improved intelligence gathering and rapid-response mechanisms to prevent further attacks.
It also called for the immediate investigation of the killings and the arrest and prosecution of those found responsible.
The BYM expressed condolences to the families of Bwede and Dadong and the people of Rim, while urging residents to remain calm and cooperate with security agencies as efforts to restore security in the affected communities continue.
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