N.Z. Convicts Cyber-Crime Teen -

N.Z. Convicts Cyber-Crime Teen
April 01, 2008 | by Christopher Nickson

A New Zealand teen is convicted of running a botnet that stole over $20 million from bank accounts.

Not too long ago Owen Thor Walker was a rich teenager. At 18, the New Zealander was running a massive botnet that reportedly controlled thousands of computers and which had illegally skimmed $20.4 million from the bank accounts of its victims.

Today Walker stands as a convicted criminal after admitting six charges of using computers for illegal purposes. He was arrested in November following an FBI investigation and his sentencing will take place in May.

The New Zealand Press Association reports that Walker pleaded guilty to accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, interfering with computer systems, possession of software for committing crime and accessing computer systems without authorisation.

He’d reportedly started his criminal activities at school, designing a virus that was encrypted to avoid detection be anti-virus software.

Although Walker could face five years in jail, the judge has indicated he may not hand down a custodial sentence, possibly because Walker is rumoured to suffer from the neurological disorder Asperger’s syndrome

Post Your Comment...Comments

Fred on Apr 3rd, 2008 at 8:20 AM:

Great. Give this anti-social criminal little hacker who's done immense damage to the internet a good talking-to and tell him not to do it again!
That'll really scare all the other hackers/phishers/scammers out there into thinking again about their criminal activities, won't it?

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