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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."

2 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. OS Problem, not teens by maybenot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Hoooray for insecure Operating Systems!

  2. Re:Is everyone missing the real point? by jcgf · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    We keep the value of their trust funds secret, but the two are worth over $300k today, and we are budgeting $500k for their education in the future.

    I wish I were one of your children.