Botnet Boss A Teen?

New Zealand police have questioned an 18-year-old who’s believed to be the boss behind a botnet cyber-crime network that’s netted millions of dollars.

 

The youth, who couldn’t be named under the country’s laws, but is known by the alias of Akill, was question and released without charge, but is still being investigated.

 

The questioning came after an FBI crackdown. Akill is suspected of being the mastermind behind a botnet of well over a million computers that have embezzled millions of dollars, and the crimes began while he was still a schoolboy in the city of Hamilton.

 

The botnet – which is made up of hijacked computers – was used not only to steal personal data, but to spread spam and phishing mails and also as part of DDOS (denial of service) attacks.

 

The FBI operation, known as Bot Roast II, was the second phase in cracking down on botnets. The first identified nets in the US, and produced several arrest. This second phase is going after the people who run the nets, and has so far brought three indictments. It’s believed that the botnets have brought in around $20 million to date.