Asger Risom
A prominent Canadian cybersecurity executive known for negotiating with hackers was just arrested by the FBI for allegedly helping the ShinyHunters collective breach federal databases. But long before his arrest, court documents reveal he was already embroiled in a vicious corporate lawsuit involving alleged death threats and a plot to destroy a rival business.
If your company gets locked down by a massive ransomware attack, Edward Dubrovsky is exactly the kind of guy you hire. As a prominent Canadian cybersecurity executive and ransomware negotiator, his entire job was to sit between panicked corporations and ruthless cybercriminals to broker a settlement.
But last week, the FBI arrested Dubrovsky in Philadelphia. And according to recent reporting from The Globe and Mail and CTV News, federal agents aren’t treating him as a helpful industry expert. They are accusing him of being a primary co-conspirator with ShinyHunters—the exact hacking group that just breached the FBI’s own databases.
And somehow, the federal indictment might not even be the most chaotic part of his year.
The corporate soap opera
Long before federal agents slapped cuffs on him, Dubrovsky was tangled in a vicious legal battle that reads more like a mob script than a corporate dispute.
For years, Dubrovsky helped build a Toronto-based cybersecurity firm called Cypfer alongside former CEO Daniel Tobok. According to a lawsuit Dubrovsky filed in Ontario earlier this year, the partnership spectacularly imploded in mid-2024. Dubrovsky claims he was stripped of his titles, denied a 25 percent stake in the company, and stiffed on his $500,000 salary.
But the lawsuit alleges things escalated far beyond standard corporate infighting. A third executive, Jason Kotler, who handled ransomware negotiations under a separate banner called CyberSteward, was also in business with them. When the partnership fractured, Tobok allegedly launched a campaign to completely destroy Kotler’s business.
According to court filings from Dubrovsky and Kotler, Tobok allegedly threatened to have Kotler arrested on false charges and thrown in a US prison. Even wilder, the filings claim Tobok made profanity-laced threats to literally burn Kotler’s house down with his wife and children inside. (Tobok has denied the allegations in a counterclaim, accusing Dubrovsky and Kotler of misappropriating confidential information).
The ShinyHunters connection
While that toxic legal drama was playing out in Canadian civil court, the FBI was hunting down the people who breached its internal networks.
Last month, the notorious hacking collective ShinyHunters managed to breach a third-party platform that hosted the FBI’s jobs portal. The hackers walked away with a massive trove of highly sensitive data, reportedly including the home addresses, social security numbers, and sensitive job assignments of thousands of federal agents.
The FBI immediately launched a massive international crackdown. Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that agents had arrested a suspected ShinyHunters co-conspirator. Multiple outlets, citing federal court records and confidential sources, confirmed that the arrested individual was Dubrovsky.
He is currently sitting in a federal detention center in Philadelphia, facing charges of conspiracy to commit extortion and interference with commerce by threats.
The ultimate irony here is almost too on the nose. Just two days after ShinyHunters publicly claimed credit for hacking the FBI, Dubrovsky actually self-published a new book. The title? Cyber Extortion Strategic Response.
