Key arrest in global cybercrime
Botnets are used to control thousands of computers simultaneously.
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Friday, 30, Nov 2007 10:15
An 18-year-old suspected kingpin of an international cybercrime network was arrested yesterday accused of hacking into 1.3 million computers.
In conjunction with the FBI and Dutch forces, New Zealand police raided the Hamilton home of the teenager and took him into custody along with several computers.
Though the New Zealander, known by his cyber tag 'AKill', was later released without charge, police have said he remains part of their investigation.
Martin Kleintjes, head of the police electronic crime centre, told the Associated Press news agency the teenager was cooperating with their enquiries.
"We have seized a number of computers and are talking with him," he said. "We are going for evidence and the case will develop from there. We're still in the early stages of the investigation."
Eight people have been indicted since an international crackdown on hacking was instigated in June, with the FBI estimating that more than one million computers have been infected.
The hackers are thought to assume control of thousands of PCs, before amassing them into centrally controlled clusters known as botnets, with which the infected systems can be used to steal personal information, trigger industry crashes or manipulate stock trading.
Authorities believe the hacker known as Akill was involved in crashing a University of Pennsylvania engineering school server in February 2006.
Ryan Goldstein, a 21-year-old hacker, was indicted for the incident earlier this month in the US, after the FBI traced an electronic trail from the infected account of a university student to Mr Goldstein's screen name Digerati and to Akill.
According to Mr Kleintjes, the New Zealander's hacking talents are unprecedented, with his software capable of evading traditional spyware systems.
"He is very bright and very skilled in what he's doing," he said. "He hires his services out to others."