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NZ Teen Arrested as 'Spybot Mastermind'

Posted by Zonk on from the i-was-nowhere-near-this-hard-working-as-a-teen dept.

Josh Fink writes "The Guardian has an interesting piece on 'Akill', a teenager from New Zealand who was the ringleader of a hacking ring. The economic impact of the ring may have totaled £9.7m. 'The teenager was the "head of an international spybot ring that has infiltrated computers around the world with their malicious software', Martin Kleintjes told New Zealand national radio ... The FBI estimates that more than 1m computers have been infected, and puts the combined economic losses at more than $20m (£9.7m).' Eight people have been charged, pleaded guilty or have been convicted since June. The FBI really has been putting a crackdown on botnets / spyware recently."

4 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. They hate competition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    The FBI are shutting down the botnets because they hate competition. They want the machines to be available for their spyware.

  2. Link to article about US student arrested by DarthTeufel · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/11910042.html A Penn student who was arrested in connection with AKILL

  3. Re:Important to point out... by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think it's important to point out that the kid 'Akill' was released without charge and that he didn't make any money out of the operation. Some sources are reporting that the group "raked in" $20 million, whereas that figure comes from estimates of "economic losses" so are probably inflated or meaningless depending on where the sources come from. Linkage
    --
    Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
  4. Except you're wrong by nunyadambinness · · Score: 2, Informative
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun

    confusion often stems from the fact that plural verb forms can often be used with the singular forms of these count nouns (for example: "The team have finished the project"); and, conversely, singular verb forms can often be used with nouns ending in "-s" that were once considered plural (for example: "Physics is my favorite academic subject"). This apparent "number mismatch" is actually a quite natural and logical feature of human language, and its mechanism is a subtle metonymic shift in the thoughts underlying the words.

    AARGH!!!!! I need more coffee...


    No, you need more education.