An Australian teenager has fled overseas after hacking Microsoft, Valve and the US Army
A teenager from Perth, who had allegedly hacked into Microsoft and the US Army websites has fled Australia. The Australian police have alerted Interpol, which is now searching for the Perth teenager. According to sources, the teenager seems to have fled to Europe while being under police investigation for hacking offences.
The teenager and his hacker gang is suspected of hacking and stealing of at least $US100 million ($A108.2 million) worth of software and data from Microsoft, Valve and the US Army. He was under police radar following a joint international investigation into five suspected hackers, most of them US-based.
“Members of this international hacking ring stole trade secret data used in hi-tech American products, ranging from software that trains US soldiers to fly Apache helicopters to Xbox games that entertain millions around the world,” assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell said.
Out of the hacker gang who hacked into Microsoft and US Army networks, four hackers from United States have already been arrested. They have pleaded guilty in the US and subsequently one of them was sentenced last month to 18 months in prison.
The Weekend Australian reports the 19 year-old moved overseas because court delays and harassment by West Australian police made it impossible for him to fund his legal defence.
The case is still under investigation by the FBI, with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, the US Postal Inspection Service and in coordination with the Western Australia Police and the Peel Regional Police of Ontario, Canada.
