Hamza Bendelladj

Hamza Bendelladj (Arabic: حمزة بن دلاج), is an Algerian hacker who goes by the code name BX1, and has been nicknamed the "Smiling Hacker". Born in 1988 in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, he was on the top 10 list of the most wanted hackers by Interpol and the FBI, for allegedly embezzling tens of millions of dollars from more than two hundred American and European financial institutions, via a computer virus, the "RimiG33k" that infected more than 50 million computers worldwide (mostly from the United States), which he developed with his Russian accomplice Aleksandr Andreevich Panin, aka "Gribodemon", to steal banking information stored on infected computers. He hacked the official website of the Israeli government.

Using malicious software called "SpyEye", Bendelladj under the pseudonyms "BX1" or "Daniel HB", broke into the computers of the banks or private individuals to acquire passwords and identification codes. Once he took control of an account, he emptied them.

After a three-year hunt, Bendelladj was arrested on January 8, 2013 by Thai police while making a stopover in Bangkok in transit between Malaysia and Egypt. He did not resist arrest. He said goodbye to his family as he was arrested and his wife and daughter continued their journey to Egypt without him. He earned the nickname "Smiling Hacker" due to the smile on his face during his media presentation on all the photos taken after his arrest even when handcuffed. According to Thai police, Bendelladj was in the top 10 most wanted by the FBI.

When asked what he did with the money, he claimed he donated millions of dollars to Palestinian charities. Trial documents did not mention it.

He was extradited in May 2013 to the United States. He was tried in Atlanta where he pleaded guilty on June 25, 2015. He faced a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of fourteen million dollars.

His accomplice Aleksandr Andreevich Panin was arrested on July 1, 2013, at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and pleaded guilty in January 2014 to the Atlanta Federal Court.

In 2015, a Tunisian website posted a rumor that Bendelladj had been sentenced to death. This rumor spread on social networks in Algeria and several Facebook support groups were created in reaction to support him. A petition was launched demanding that the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President Barack Obama intervene for his release. The US ambassador to Algeria, Joan A. Polaschik wrote on her Twitter account, "that computer crimes are not capital crimes and are not punishable by the death penalty".

Bendelladj has been in prison in the United States since May 2013, with the US court sentenced him on April 20, 2016 to 15 years in prison and 3 years of probation. His Russian accomplice Panin, 27, aka "Gribodemon", was sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison.

In their report, the United States Department of Justice estimated the "SpyEye" virus had stolen approximately a billion dollars. Between 2010 and 2012, the affected banks repaired the damage caused by this malware. Bendelladj's lawyer announced that he intended to appeal against the court's decision.