Two Romanian nationals have been arrested over allegations that they were behind the hacking of the Washington D.C. closed-circuit television camera network that resulted in 70 percent of the network going offline in the week before the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

The suspects, Mihai Alexandru Isvanca, 25, and Eveline Cismaru, 28, were arrested in Bucharest Dec. 15 on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit computer fraud. According to an affidavit supporting the charges, the pair hacked 123 of the police department’s 187 outdoor surveillance cameras by infecting computer systems with ransomware in an effort to extort money.

Notably, one of the two types of ransomware used was a Cerber variant, the same variant a number of people in Romania were arrested for allegedly distributing Dec. 20.

“This case was of the highest priority due to its impact on the Secret Service’s protective mission and its potential effect on the security plan for the 2017 Presidential Inauguration,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington D.C. said in a release. “The investigation revealed no evidence that any person’s physical security was threatened or harmed due to the disruption of the [police department] surveillance cameras.”

What isn’t clear is whether the two arrested were solely behind the hack or were part of a broader criminal network. The question is pertinent because they’re not the first to have been accused and arrested over the matter. Two people in the United Kingdom, identified only as a 50-year-old British man and a Swedish woman of the same age, were arrested back in January by U.K. police on behalf of U.S. officials.

As for the two new suspects, Isvanca remains in custody in Romania and Cismaru is under house arrest pending further legal proceedings, presumably an extradition hearing. Should they be extradited, they could face as much as 20 years in prison.

Photo: takomabibelot/Flickr