Kijana Akill mwenye akili nyingi za wizi: Police swoop on teenage hacker

[Steve Dii]

The boy is truly a 'bad boy', pls read on:

NZ police swoop on teenage hacker

By Nick Bryant
BBC News


Police in New Zealand have arrested a teenager they say was the ringleader of an international cyber crime network.
The network is alleged to have infiltrated over one million computers and skimmed millions of dollars from people's bank accounts.

The teenager, who is 18, cannot be named for legal reasons but his cyber identification was "Akill".

Police allege that he was the whizzkid kingpin behind what they called an international spybot ring.

The term describes the process of infiltrating computers around the world with malicious software that allows the computers to be used to collect information such as bank account and credit card details.

In this global hacking spree, the FBI estimates that 1.3 million computers were infiltrated and infected and more than US$25m (£12.5m) was illegally embezzled.

"Akill" was still at school when his hacking allegedly began, and he is said to be very bright and very skilled.

The 18-year-old was arrested in New Zealand's North Island city of Hamilton.

He is now co-operating with the police and apparently telling them just how this high-tech scam worked.

He could face charges which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Story from BBC NEWS:

CNN story and video below:

Teen arrested in cyber crime plot


WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Police arrested the suspected teenage kingpin of an international cyber crime network accused of infiltrating 1.3 million computers and skimming millions of dollars from victims' bank accounts, officials said.

You can watch related video here.


Working with the FBI and police in the Netherlands, New Zealand police arrested the 18-year-old in the North Island city of Hamilton, said Martin Kleintjes, head of the police electronic crime center. The suspect's name was not immediately available.

Kleintjes charged that the ring was responsible for stealing at least $20 million using bank account and login details detected by their illegal spyware.

The arrest was part of international probe into the criminal use of "botnets," in which hackers gain control of third-party computers through malicious software and then use them as remote-controlled robots to crash online systems, accept spam and steal users' personal information.

Eight people have been indicted, pleaded guilty or convicted since the investigation started in June. Thirteen additional warrants have been served in the U.S. and overseas in the investigation, which the FBI says has uncovered more than $20 million in economic losses.

New Zealand police searched the residence of the 18-year-old suspected to be the ringleader earlier this week. The federal agency identified the person by the online handle "AKILL."

Earlier this month, Ryan Goldstein, 21, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, in the United States was indicted in the case. Authorities allege that the New Zealand suspect and Goldstein were involved in crashing a University of Pennsylvania engineering school server February 23, 2006.

Officials said that the server, which typically handles about 450 daily requests for Internet downloads, instead got 70,000 requests from the account of an unsuspecting Penn student over four days. Over time, the FBI followed an electronic trail from that student's account to Goldstein's screen name, "Digerati," and the New Zealand hacker.

The crash briefly shut down computers at Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, but did relatively little damage, university spokesman Ron Ozio said.

Goldstein has pleaded not guilty and was released on bail while awaiting a trial set for March 10.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the single count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud.

"We feel the charges are inflated," defense lawyer Ronald Levine said Thursday. "We think this is kind of an exaggerated case."

Goldstein did not return phone messages left by The Associated Press on his cell phone and his parents' home in Ambler. He remains enrolled at Penn, according to Ozio, who said he could not comment on possible disciplinary action.

Source: CNN.

BTW, his cybername 'akill' rhymes with 'akili', swahili word for brainy, hence the thread title.

(kijana akill mwenye akili nyingi za wizi = a brainy teenager with brainier thievery) in satirical manner.

SteveD.

 

[Picassa243]

Well it happens so that a hacker is not a criminal mind as he helps to discover the vulnerabilities in the OS and then does not use them for his use but a Cracker. Yes he is a dangerous person and violates the law and should be punished. The poor old hacker gets grinded in the web of cyber crime unneseccerily. As we all forget that he is a genious.