Courcy's Future Threats - September/October 2013

Police in Argentina have arrested a 19-year-old man, dubbed the ‘superhacker’, who is believed to have led a gang of hackers that targeted international money transfer and gambling websites.

According to the Argentine authorities the teen was making £31,500 ($50,000) a month, working from his bedroom in Buenos Aires. Having spent a year closing in on the suspect, during the arrest operation the police shut down the power to the entire neighbourhood to prevent the deletion of sensitive data. In the teenager’s room at the Buenos Aires house belonging to his father, also a computer expert (although not implicated in the crime), officials found high-capacity computers. The hackers allegedly used malware attacks to construct a botnet of thousands of zombie computers, which were then used to illegally divert money from accounts leaving virtually no trace behind. The young man is accused of three crimes, for which he could face more than a decade behind bars if convicted.