12-year-old admits to hacking major government websites for Anonymous in exchange for computer games
- The boy, from Montreal,
Canada, gained access to multiple sites, including that of the Chilean
government, and 'bombarded them with requests to consume so much of its
resources that they become unusable', court was told
- He was working for hacking group Anonymous during the Quebec student uprising of 2012
- Lawyers say the boy was not politically motivated but saw it 'as a challenge'
- He also taught others how to hack
A 12-year-old Canadian boy has
pleaded guilty to three charges of hacking government websites under the
affiliation of 'hacktavist' initiative Anonymous.
A
court heard on Thursday how the fifth grader - from the Montreal suburb
of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce - wreaked computer havoc during the Quebec
student uprising in 2012, with some sites out of service for two days.
He
has pleaded guilty to three charges related to hacking websites that
included those of Montreal police, the Quebec Institute of Public
Health, the Chilean government and some non-public sites.
The attacks took some of the sites offline for up to two days, at what police estimated as a cost of $60,000 in damages.......
Guilty: A 12-year-old boy has admitted to three
serious charges of government hacking as part of the 'hacktavist' group
Anonymous, who would disguise themselves in public using masks the same
as this one
A more detailed report will be handed over next month when the boy is sentenced, according to the Toronto Sun.
Even
though most of the attacks took place during the Quebec student
protests in 2012 - sparked by an outrage at proposed tuition hikes that
eventually escalated into a riot - the boy’s lawyers maintained he was
not politically motivated.
Instead they said he traded information obtained from website databases for video games.
'He saw it as a challenge, he was only 12 years old,' said the young hacker’s lawyer.
'There was no political purpose.'
According to Montreal police, the boy also taught others how to hack.
While others have been arrested for the attacks, it was the boy who 'opened the door to enable them', the court was told.
Court documents said she showed a keen interest with computers from the age of 9.
The Quebec student uprising in 2012 lasted
months and was sparked by a planned rise in tuition fees. They saw the
rise of hacker group Anonymous. The online attacks of a 12-year-old boy
in court this year happened at the time of the protests last year
Major march: Thousands of demonstrators hit the streets of Montreal in 2012 in a rally marking 100 days of student protests
He appeared in youth court on Thursday dressed in his school uniform and accompanied by his father.
The
court was told that the targeted sites suffered three types of attack,
including a Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, where
aggressors bombard a target with requests designed to consume so much of
its resources that it becomes unusable.
The
Toronto Sun says that the court heard testimony from somebody who said
the boy hard warned others about the dangers of hacking.
'It's easy to hack but do not go there too much, they will track you down,' the testimony said.
The Quebec student uprisings last until fall 2012.
Old school: Michael Calce, known by his screen
name as Mafia Boy, remains one of the biggest cases in computer hacking.
He was caught in 2000 and went on to plead guilty to 56 charges,
causing an estimated $1.7 million in damages. He was 15 at the time but
is pictured here during a recent interview with Carson Daly
One occasion was
compared with Occupy Wall Street, with Molotov cocktails being thrown
and police using rubber bullets and tear gas.
There were serious injuries recorded for both police and protestors.
In
2000, a 15-year-old boy also from Montreal - known by his screen name
'Mafiaboy' but real name Michael Calce - pleaded guilty to 56 counts of
hacking and attacking sites, causing an estimated $1.7 million damage.
He
was sentenced to eight months in 'open custody' at a rehabilitation
home for youths and went on to write a book and field many offers for
jobs in cyber security.
