Cybercrime crackdown collars teen ringleader

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 30 Nov 2007 at 13:53

New Zealand police are investigating a teenager alleged to be the ringleader of an international network of cyber-criminals.

Police believe the 18-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons but goes by the alias Akill, leads a group which has hijacked more than one million computers, acquiring information which has allowed them to steal over £12 million from victims' bank accounts.

After being questioned Akill was released without charge, though police say they will continue to investigate his activities. If found guilty, the young hacker could face up to 10 years in prison.

The arrest comes as part of Operation Bot Roast, an FBI-led international crackdown on Botnets, the name given to strings of hijacked computers used to commit cybercrimes.

"Today, botnets are the weapon of choice of cyber-criminals," says FBI Director Robert Mueller, speaking on the arrest."They seek to conceal their criminal activities by using third party computers as vehicles for their crimes."

"In Bot Roast, we see the diverse and complex nature of crimes that are being committed through the use of botnets. Despite this enormous challenge, we will continue to be aggressive in finding those responsible for attempting to exploit unknowing internet users."