---
title: "Hackers Seize Control of Bulgarian Tax Agency, Sprinkler System"
description: "A Bulgarian hacker took control of the country's tax agency and also hijacked the sprinkler system outside of Parliament."
date: "2019-07-31"
modified: "2019-07-31"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/hackers-bulgarian-tax-agency-sprinkler"
categories:
  - "Cybersecurity"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Hacking"
tags:
  - "cybersecurity"
  - "hackers"
  - "the digest"
---

# Hackers Seize Control of Bulgarian Tax Agency, Sprinkler System

![A Bulgarian hacker took control of the country's tax agency and also hijacked the sprinkler system outside of Parliament.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/hackers-bulgarian-tax-agency-sprinkler.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Ramon Ramos via Pixabay\</em\>*

## Wet And Wild

The Bulgarian government is stuck in an unusually comical cybersecurity crisis.

A hacker broke into servers of the National Revenue Agency, [according to the Bulgarian language newsroom *MediaPool*](<https://www.mediapool.bg/kiberteroristi-iskali-da-razklatyat-vlastta-s-praskachkite-okolo-parlamenta-news296364.html>), but also seized control over a city sprinkler system, dousing government officials when they tried to leave the Parliament Building. The government has accused and arrested 20-year-old cybersecurity developer Kristian Boykov, [according to *Reuters*](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bulgaria-cybersecurity/wizard-cybersecurity-expert-charged-with-record-hack-of-bulgarian-tax-agency-idUSKCN1UC0GF>), though Boykov denies the allegations.

While it's funny to imagine, the hack illustrates how unprepared world governments are to deal with cybersecurity threats.

## Storm Clouds

The government has argued that the hacker was trying to [create political instability](<https://futurism.com/white-hat-hacker-us-government-scary>), *MediaPool* reports. That's a reasonable claim to make for the tax agency hack that resulted in stolen data pertaining to ongoing investigations — *Reuters* reports that it was the largest hack in Bulgarian history — but government officials made the same argument for the hijacked sprinkler system as well.

The supervising prosecutor leading the case against the hacker, Evgeny Stankova, argued that soaking government officials with sprinkler water could cause instability throughout Bulgaria's entire political system, according to *MediaPool*. So far, Stankova said, Boykov's employer, the cybersecurity firm TAD Group, refused to cooperate with the investigation and decrypt the hacked computers.

**READ MORE:** [Cyberterrorists Wanted To Shake Power With Sprinklers Around Parliament](<https://www.mediapool.bg/kiberteroristi-iskali-da-razklatyat-vlastta-s-praskachkite-okolo-parlamenta-news296364.html>) \[*MediaPool*\]

**More on hackers:** *[Hacker Who Killed WannaCry Sentenced to Time Served](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hacker-killed-wannacry-sentenced>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)