A teenage hacker from New Zealand believed to be the ring-leader of a cyber-crime gang has managed to nab himself some work courtesy of his exploits.
When apprehended, Owen Thor Walker (then 18 years old) was described by the FBI as “bright and skilled” at what he was doing. Walker admitted to a total of six charges this time last year, including accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, interfering with computer systems, possession of software for committing crime and accessing computer systems without authorization.
The group is believed to have brought down the server at the University of Pennsylvania and infiltrated more than a million computers before Walker was arrested in November 2007. At the time, police estimated the gang had skimmed $25m in from victims bank accounts by hijacking computers all over the world and networking them to form a botnet. Walker is believed to have written programs unlike any other, capable of evading normal anti-virus software. Despite his guilty pleas, he was not convicted. The teenager was ordered to pay a share of damages caused to hacked machines and to stay away from computers.
A New Zealand news site reports that the 19 year old has since been hired by telecommunications company, TelstraClear. A spokesman for the company. Chris Mirams, said they had contracted Mr Walker for seminars and advertising which had been completed by late last year.
According to the site, TelstraClear considered the rulings, spoke to police who investigated the hacking as well as Walker and his mommy. "We found him pleasant to deal with and he genuinely wanted to help New Zealand businesses by sharing experiences," said Mr Mirams. He did not have access to the TelstraClear network.
We don’t really know what to make of this. Given the fact that he didn’t have access to the computer networks, it doesn’t seem like he had any chance to do any damage. That said, we still wouldn’t trust someone who’d stolen $25m from innocent people.
Teen Hacker Contracted By Telco Company
By Jane McEntegart - Source: Tom's Hardware US
""Despite his guilty pleas, he was not convicted. The teenager was ordered to pay a share of damages caused to hacked machines and to stay away from computers.""
Why was he order to do anything if he was not convicted?!
Why are you writing like a pre-schooler?
Am I missing something here?
Plea bargain. He admitted to the crime.
I wondered the same thing when I read that.
Because I think it's absolutely ridiculous that they involved his mother in the first place. At 19 I had a job and was living on my own and my father or mother was not involved in any kind of career move I made.
"Prosocutor: Pay what damages we can prove without a doubt, and take a probationary term, or we prosocute. Then you go to jail for 10 years, and you still pay back what damages we can prove after 10 years of evidence, and then still serve probation. Take your choice.
Owen: Uhmm... Let me think about that one, ok?"
Utilization of great minds for society is a great idea. They make their money by working, and that's one less person the general populace has to deal with. They are no longer bored.
So have you met Phoebe Buffay?
By stealing other countries’ secrete?
It is when you steal $25 million.
Yeah I guess you are right, I apologize for my ignorant comment.
I see you are new to Tom's Comments, that is Jane's was of writing and she tends to forget the sarcasm tags. No worries Jane I like it like that.
If Kevin forgot the sarcasm tag EVERYONE would be all over him!