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Another Botnet King Arrested, Appears in New Zealand Court

Teenager was boss of a gang that infected 1.3 million computers around the world, stealing banking and credit card information.

Another teenager has been accused of being at the center of an international cyber crime network. Eighteen-year-old Owen Thorn Walker, a computer programmer from Hamilton, New Zealand, has been charged with two counts of accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, damaging with a computer system, possessing software for committing crimes, and two counts of accessing a computer system without permission. If found guilty, Walker could face up to 10 years in jail.

When arrested in November 2007, it was alleged that Walker -- known by his online handle 'AKILL' -- was the boss of a gang that infected 1.3 million computers around the world, stealing banking and credit card information.

"Hackers can use zombie networks of innocent people's computers to send spam, manipulate stock prices, steal identities and attack company websites. These botnets are one of the biggest security problems faced by the internet today, and are a powerful weapon in the hands of an experienced cyber criminal," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Some people may feel that this case is a long way away because it's happening in New Zealand, but Sophos tracks thousands of compromised computers around the world every hour, doing the bidding of remote hackers. It is essential that computer users put in place strong defenses to properly protect their PCs."

Walker appeared in Thames Magistrate's Court in northern New Zealand, and was released on bail. News of the charges against him follow the unconnected arrest last week of 17 young people in Quebec alleged to have infected up to a million computers in 100 countries around the world.

Earlier this month, an American teen who goes by the online handle "SoBe" plead guilty to seizing control of hundreds of thousands of zombie computers, including some from the Weapons Division of the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California and at the U.S. Department of Defense.