The Etownian >> Opinion
Go phish! Teenage criminal hacks a million computers
Thursday December 06 2007
A New Zealand teen is being questioned regarding a hacking scheme that has infected over one million computers internationally. Authorities believe the 18-year old boy is the leader of a ring of hackers that employ the “botnet” method of hacking, which takes over other computers for use in cyber crimes. Infections can come in the form of viruses, worms, and other similar programs, and can be delivered through fake advertisements, phishing sites, or e-mail attachments. The FBI estimates that botnet-related crimes have amounted over $20 million in theft and losses. FBI Director Robert Mueller says that botnets are the “weapon of choice” for modern hackers. However, Symantec Corp., a leading manufacturer of anti-virus and firewall software, has stated that in recent years the number of reported botnet attacks have gone down. The decline is presumed to be a result of better computer security.
Perhaps the FBI needs to check its sources. Despite the drop, between January and June of 2007 alone, Symantec programs detected over 5 million infected computers, each one carrying out at least one attack per day.
The 18-year old, whose name has yet to be released, has not yet been charged or officially arrested, but his computer equipment has been taken into custody for examination. If he is in fact the head of the hacking ring that calls itself the “A-Team,” then he has orchestrated a plan leading to the infection of over one million computers. Pretty impressive.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way advocating this sort of thing in any way, shape or form. But this kid definitely deserves some credit, assuming he is guilty.
Infecting upwards of one million computers worldwide? Half the people on campus can’t even figure out how to map their network drives. Someone capable of pulling off something like this is entitled to all the money he can steal. Plus, people dumb enough to give their credit card numbers to the first site that offers them a free iPod are getting what they deserve.
With cases like this and high-class heists, it would be more appropriate for authorities to be a bit more forgiving when a good deal of talent is involved. None of this 20-year sentence nonsense; the cops are just as impressed as the rest of us (at least me), and you know it.
“You infected how many computers? And stole all that money yourself?! Jesus. You know what, just give back half and help pick up trash on the highway and you’re free to go. Oh, and could you help me install Windows before you go?” Cut the kid some slack.
I’m also a bit disturbed by all the attention given to this while all of the world’s corporate criminals manage to run free. Hundreds of companies are stealing amounts of money that are exponentially greater than a mere $20 million.
As Enron proved, they’re not even doing a good job of ruining people’s lives; in most cases it’s just some schmuck in a suit entering wrong numbers into the accounting books so he can go buy another Ferrari.
We can catch these computer geniuses but can’t do anything about the economic highway robbery taking place in this country? If people would simply install anti-virus software and officials would stop taking bribes, maybe we could focus on our real problems.
The Etownian >> Opinion