A Slovenian hacker who ran into legal conflict with one of the country's leading banks over an alleged security weakness was found dead last week.

Police believe Robert Skulj, 28, killed himself with a shot to the head from a gun found at the scene. Skulj's body was found in his locked apartment in the city of Trzic last Friday.

Last year, Skulj claimed he had found a serious security hole in an electronic business system called Klik used by Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), a bank in Slovenia.

According to local reports, he entered into negotiation with NLB to sell a Trojan horse that exploited the flaw he had discovered - along with a security fix - to the bank for €500,000 ($568,050).

NLB treated the approach as blackmail and brought charges against him last October. Slovenian police arrested Skulj and confiscated the technology he was offering to sell to the bank.

Skulj was subsequently acquitted of any fraud by the Slovenian courts.

He then sued the bank and the state of Slovenia for 200 million Slovenian Tolar (€850,000) for wrongful prosecution and the confiscation of his Trojan code.

But before the case could be heard, Skulj apparently took his own life.

His exact motives remain unclear but it is believed he was unable to cope with the stress of the court case brought against him and his own the follow-up action. ®

Thanks to Reg reader Gregor Papez for informing us about this story.