Tech News
Kiwi teen nabbed by FBI in botnet bust
By Stevie Smith
Nov 30, 2007, 10:01 GMT

Police in New Zealand working in conjunction with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation are questioning a teenage hacker believed to be the ringleader of a nefarious botnet group responsible for infecting more than 1 million computer systems around the world.

Identified only as "AKILL," which is his cyber alias, the 18-year-old was taken for questioning on Thursday following a raid to confiscate various items of computer equipment. Authorities believe that the teenager has been heading up a damaging international botnet group operating under the name "A-team."

The creation of a network of remotely controlled computers, or a botnet as it is know, allows hackers to dispatch waves of malicious spam attacks via unwitting hijacked computer systems, while also enabling attackers to access personal information in order to engage in other criminal activity, including ID theft.

Speaking to CNN news, Police Detective Inspector Peter Devoy said that Internet addresses and other related information was delivered to Kiwi authorities by the FBI, which subsequently led investigators to AKILL’s doorstep. The suspected teenager has not been arrested at this point in time, but merely questioned regarding A-team’s activities.

"Today, botnets are the weapon of choice for cyber criminals," outlined FBI Director Robert Mueller in a statement. "They seek to conceal their criminal activities by using third-party computers as vehicles for their crimes."

According to the FBI, users can better protect their systems from possible botnet infection by simply installing a firewall, selecting non-common passwords, ignoring/deleting unknown or suspicious e-mail messages and ad links, and ensuring that installed anti-virus software remains up-to-date at all times.

Online security expert Symantec Corp (which produces Norton anti-virus software) offers that more than 5 million infected computers around the world are part of a botnot. China has the highest rate of infected systems, with 29 percent, while the US follows close behind with 13 percent.