Canadian Feds charge Mafiaboy in DDoS attacks

Canadian authorities have charged a fifteen-year-old boy with two counts of "mischief to data" for taking part in the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks which shut down popular Web sites such as Yahoo!, eBay, CNN and Amazon in February, and which finally brought a healthy scepticism of Internet security into the mainstream consciousness. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Yves Roussel said they were tipped off when the lad boasted in Internet chat rooms about what he had done. Police obtained a warrant and searched his Montreal home, seizing computers and software and placing the lad under arrest on 15 April, he said. Mafiaboy appeared before a Montreal Youth Court judge on Monday and was released, but with strict conditions. "Considering the seriousness of the charges, and consequences derived from the alleged actions, and in order to prevent further attacks, bail conditions were imposed. Hence, Mafiaboy is prohibited from the use of a computer except at school for academic reasons; and he must be under the direct and constant supervision of a teacher or another [adult] supervisor," Roussel said during a Wednesday press conference. "They liked to show off that they were good at it, and that, you know, they are the best; but it is our evaluation that Mafia boy is not that good, actually. He had a good knowledge of computers; however, he wasn't what we could call a genius," Roussel added. The on-going investigation is a joint operation of the RCMP's Computer Investigation Unit, the FBI and US Department of Justice. More arrests could be made, Roussel indicated, but offered no further details. "Wherever they are, [malicious] hackers will be investigated and arrested," he warned. ® Related Coverage TFN author 'Mixter' sentenced FBI Web site hacked Feds charge Coolio while DDoS attackers remain at large Congressional study rejects Clinton's IT security Czar, FIDNET The Mother of all DDoS attacks looms Hacking hysteria invigorates insurance industry Law enforcers the 'absolute worst people' for Net security - former Fed Janet Reno proposes on-line police squad Dot-Com firms are hacking each other -- expert Reno, FBI feast on bad network security New hack attack is greater threat than imagined Hacking credit cards is preposterously easy