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Canada's Largest Hacker Bust Ever Rounds Up 17 Perps

by Terrence O'Brien on February 22, 2008 at 03:21 PM


Guess what, Canada has hackers too! It's true, the country isn't all maple leaves and mounties. Now the only question is whether Canada has anymore hackers after Wednesday's raid that snatched up 17 of these young whippersnappers in 12 towns across the winter-swept country.

The suspects ranged from 17 to 26 years-old, and with one exception, all male. The 17 tech-savvy young men and woman formed a hacking ring accused of trafficking in identity and data theft, denial of service attacks (cutting off Internet access), and spamming. The criminal hackers used the standard tools of the trade -- viruses, spyware, and bots to hijack victims' PCs and servers.

The attacks are estimated to have caused $45 million in damages to governments, businesses and individuals around the world. Each hacker is thought to be responsible for hijacking 5,000 computers, most outside of Canada.

From National Post

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Tags: canada, crime, hackers, hacking, law, security

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