Autistic 18 years old convicted of hacking 1.3 million computers

soulslicer

soulslicer

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Well not really..but it shocks me how a lone teenager who is autistic can hack 1.3 Million systems worldwide, crash a university computer network, create a software that cannot be detected by anti-virus software, evade security forces for 2 goddamn years and causes 27 Million US Dollars in losses and he is only 18 years old. (I read some info you won't see in the source elsewhere) WTF man!

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3659780.ece

A New Zealand teenager accused of involvement in an international cyber-crime ring which skimmed millions of dollars from bank accounts has been convicted of illegal computer hacking.

Owen Thor Walker, 18, allegedly led a group of hackers who used his programmes to send malicious software to and steal data from at least 1.3 million computers worldwide, resulting in losses of US$20 million (?10.1 million).

Mr Walker, who used the online name Akill, designed a virus which was undetectable by antivirus software, and made nearly NZ$40,000 (?15,750) selling it to other hackers, police said. The programme he wrote was "among the most advanced" investigators had encountered, they said.
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Just wow.
 
The article quoted a judge (iirc) who said the kid will probably not end up serving any time. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere that he was autistic, either...

Hmmm, part of me tends to think someone with that much talent should be reformed, but, on the other hand, he knowlingly and deliberately screwed a whole lot of people... And any disorder that he may or may not have would have to be considered also.
 
Isomorphic said:
The article quoted a judge (iirc) who said the kid will probably not end up serving any time. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere that he was autistic, either...

Hmmm, part of me tends to think someone with that much talent should be reformed, but, on the other hand, he knowlingly and deliberately screwed a whole lot of people... And any disorder that he may or may not have would have to be considered also.
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The first thing I thought was that the government should hire that fool.
 
VirusType2 said:
The first thing I thought was that the government should hire that fool.
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Well that's probably the deal. He accepts to work for (insert government agency here) or it's jail time.
 
Good to know that there are still people who are capable of doing whatever the hell they want online regardless of security.
 
Ennui said:
Good to know that there are still people who are capable of doing whatever the hell they want online regardless of security.
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Better security makes better hackers, in a way.
 
Kiwi ingenuity is a terrible, terrible thing in the wrong hands.
 
What I was going to say was:

Great. now they have Einstein 2 working the government wiretapping.

(But I was scared) (lol)


()
 
Biggest badass online, or Godzilla in disguise. You decide.
 
soulslicer said:
Well not really..but it shocks me how a lone teenager who is autistic can hack 1.3 Million systems worldwide, crash a university computer network, create a software that cannot be detected by anti-virus software, evade security forces for 2 goddamn years and causes 27 Million US Dollars in losses and he is only 18 years old. (I read some info you won't see in the source elsewhere) WTF man!

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3659780.ece



Just wow.
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ummm ...where does it say he's Autistic? nowhere in the article you provided is there mention of autism ..and chances are even if he were autistic he wouldnt have been capable of writing complex software to hack computers ....have you ever seen someone with autism? aspergers syndrome maybe but autism? unlikely

oh wait I was correct:

http://www.teach-the-brain.org/forums/vbnews.php?do=viewarticle&artid=22

aspergers is quite common in programmers, not really that remarkable
 
soulslicer said:
he is only 18 years old.
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This is possibly the least surprising thing in this article.

Younger people are generally closer with technology than previous generations were at their age. More tools come out which help you to do things.

New-age nerd >> old-age nerd.

An older person would also be more likely to have more morals regarding the issue. Wisdom, etc.

Younger people also have more time on their hands.

Plus genii are nothing new.

The film Catch Me if You Can about Frank Abagnale Jr. would be a wonderful example to stick in here.

Isomorphic said:
Hmmm, part of me tends to think someone with that much talent should be reformed, but, on the other hand, he knowlingly and deliberately screwed a whole lot of people... And any disorder that he may or may not have would have to be considered also.
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If he doesn't have any "problems" regarding morality, it's probable he'd just grow up.

VirusType2 said:
The first thing I thought was that the government should hire that fool.
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Remus said:
Well that's probably the deal. He accepts to work for (insert government agency here) or it's jail time.
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See above source.

CptStern said:
aspergers is quite common in programmers, not really that remarkable
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This, he beat me to it -_-

Dadi said:
April fools?
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Kinda a boring April Fools...

Also, ++ to the Times for the ++ of the story :p
 
Hax....

Stupid nerd...Serves him right
 
Him having Asperger's Syndrome shouldn't come as a surprise. It's a very mild form of autism in which those who have it have trouble with social interactions , but are generally very good at mathematics and the like.
 
Remember when HL2 got stolen? I remember Gabe saying that they caught him by promising him a job at Valve, because of his "obvious" programming skills, and paid for a ticket for him to come to Seattle.

The FBI was waiting to arrest him on the other end, lol.
 
CptStern said:
ummm ...where does it say he's Autistic? nowhere in the article you provided is there mention of autism ..and chances are even if he were autistic he wouldnt have been capable of writing complex software to hack computers ....have you ever seen someone with autism? aspergers syndrome maybe but autism? unlikely
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Aspergers is a form of autism, lol.

I wonder if there will be a movie about this kid, like that German movie 23.
 
Sedako said:
Him having Asperger's Syndrome shouldn't come as a surprise. It's a very mild form of autism in which those who have it have trouble with social interactions , but are generally very good at mathematics and the like.
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Generally...
 
I'd be more surprised if he did that without autism. I have Aspergers Syndrome myself btw.
 
KineticAesthetic said:
NEW ZEALAND.

SUPERIOR.
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SheepINGrass1.JPG


/flee
 
^**** oath! i lol'd also


The government should try to reform this young genius and have him contribute to society. Putting someone like this in jail is wasteful.
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But would this person say the same thing if the 18year old wasn't considered to be mentally handicapped?
 
theotherguy said:
Remember when HL2 got stolen? I remember Gabe saying that they caught him by promising him a job at Valve, because of his "obvious" programming skills, and paid for a ticket for him to come to Seattle.

The FBI was waiting to arrest him on the other end, lol.
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Yeah, the Valve Ultimate Burn :)

...good times
 
Vegeta897 said:
Aspergers is a form of autism, lol.
.
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really? they never mentioned that at the school for autisitic children that I worked at for 7 years


autism and aspergers have two distinctly different implications despite one being an offshoot of the other ..oh and autism is a series of symptoms, there isnt a single indicator like say downs syndrome; that's why you have everything from this kid who was able to write programs to a person who doesnt have control over their own bowels and has the mental equivilency of a toddler ..to make a blanket statement that this kid is autistic while technically correct is misleading; he has aspergers; there's a whole different implication


and back to you, I'm sure you'll have something to say
 
CptStern said:
really? they never mentioned that at the school for autisitic children that I worked at for 7 years


autism and aspergers have two distinctly different implications despite one being an offshoot of the other ..oh and autism is a series of symptoms, there isnt a single indicator like say downs syndrome; that's why you have everything from this kid who was able to write programs to a person who doesnt have control over their own bowels and has the mental equivilency of a toddler ..to make a blanket statement that this kid is autistic while technically correct is misleading; he has aspergers; there's a whole different implication


and back to you, I'm sure you'll have something to say
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Thank you Stern!

I suppose "Autistic 18yo" makes for a better headline than "18yo with aspergers" :E

I'm sure it's because more people know what autism is. It gets across the point that he's socially inept and we can assume that he has the whole genius aspect of autism because of what he's done.

And back to you!!
 
in my experience the overwhelming majority of autistic people are barely capable of feeding themselves let alone having the ability to turn on a computer

one of my students (frankie) ..probably around your age could barely hold a fork (I sat with him during his lunch, helping him eat) ..he used to have so little control over his hand that he'd repeatedly stab the roof of his mouth with the fork ..looked painful ..oh and for kicks (stimming) he used to poke his eye in so he can see stars, he'd push his eyeball into the socket till his finger disappeared to the first knuckle ..used to make me queasy ..he'd poke his eye, lift his hand in front of his face and rock back and forth while staring at the overhead lights

oh and he was lucky, his family bent over backwards to provide him with some quality of life ..that was pretty rare
 
Great... Your experience has what to do with the facts of this news item?

Interesting story but I'm just wondering if we're arguing about something or not :p
 
I don't know. We never really accomplish anything.

The point is that aspergers is a form of autism, so there's nothing wrong with saying he's autistic if he has aspergers. An even broader term would be "retarded". The argument is basically just silly semantics I suppose. You're trying to back up your side with all your experience, but it's completely meaningless in this argument.

You always do this stern :p You always try to use your age/experience to trump the person you are arguing. It doesn't even apply here. At all. I don't care how many years you've had with aspergers or autistic people. We're talking about simple definitions of terms here.

And also, when you find yourself out-experienced, like in the surgical thread, it's a pathetic fight.
 
really this is getting old vageta, you argue for the sake of arguing, half the ttime you dont even understand what you're arguing
 
It's just so easy for you to say that isn't it? Just say it every time and feel good about yourself while I can rest assured you pose no threat.
 
Vegeta897 said:
It's just so easy for you to say that isn't it? Just say it every time and feel good about yourself while I can rest assured you pose no threat.
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"I know what you are but what am I?" - this is in essence your basic argument in every single debate you get into, there's no discussion of facts it's just a futile excercise in semantics

in fact when I first quoted you in this thread I knew you'd get right back on the semantic train ..which is why I made a comment, you're predictable
 
CptStern said:
"I know what you are but what am I?" - this is in essence your basic argument in every single debate you get into, there's no discussion of facts it's just a futile excercise in semantics
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I know you are... but what am I? Stern you're always saying things with no explanation at all. If you could somehow explain how that relates to what has happened in this thread, I'd be happy to agree. Sometimes I think you just say things to look good when they carry zero weight.
CptStern said:
in fact when I first quoted you in this thread I knew you'd get right back on the semantic train ..which is why I made a comment, you're predictable
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The first thing you said was a sementics argument. There is no other train. I agree the argument in this thread is stupid. You said it shouldn't be called autism. I said it can be called autism. You, as if taking offense, start referring to your vast experience as if it has anything to do with whether or not it can be called autism.
 
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