Police to employ NZ hacker
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A New Zealand computer hacker responsible for a botnet virus which stole millions of dollars from private bank accounts may be employed by police looking to catch other cyber-criminals.
Following a court ruling ordering Owen Thor Walker to pay damages for developing the computer virus, officials said they were keen to use his skills in the fight against various IT security threats.
While the judge ordered reparations for his role in developing the botnet virus, she dismissed charges made against him for breaching network security at a US university.
The BBC reported that Judge Judith Porter told the court that convicting him of these charges would undoubtedly jeopardize his "bright" career opportunities.
Elsewhere, the Telegraph reported that detectives were astonished to discover that Walker was the mastermind behind the multimillion dollar botnet program, which he sold to an international gang of computer hackers known as the A-Team.
The teenager is not thought to have benefited financially from the group's use of the program, which involved committing multimillion dollar identity theft and fraud.
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