12 Year Old Admits Hacking Government Websites As Part Of Anonymous

A 12-year old Canadian boy from Montreal has pleaded guilty to hacking websites of local police, the Quebec Institute of Public Health, the Chilean government and others in the spring of 2012.

According to The Toronto Sun, the boy, whose name can’t be published for legal reasons, will now be sentenced for causing $60,000 worth of damage while acting under the banner of ‘hacktivist’ group Anonymous.

Starting young

The young hacker had not just initiated DDoS attacks, but also stole information belonging to users and administrators, and even went “phishing”. As a result of his activities, some of the websites were down for up to two days.

Even though most of the attacks took place during the student protests in 2012, the boy’s lawyers said the attacks were not politically motivated. Instead, he traded information obtained from website databases for videogames.

“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 would also teach others how to hack websites. He appeared in youth court on Thursday dressed in his school uniform and accompanied by his father. The sentencing is expected to take place next month.

In 2000, a Canadian teenager known under the nickname ‘Mafiaboy’ was sentenced to eight months in youth detention, after he caused an estimated $1.7 billion in damage through hacking. Later, he received job offers from several cyber security companies.

Earlier this month, the US authorities charged 13 members of Anonymous for taking part in Operation Payback, which attacked financial organisations in 2010.

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