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Late last week, Canadian and U.S. authorities moved in on a 15-year-old Canadian in the investigation they have been conducting since the February hacker attack on several mainstream websites.
This case apparently took a bizarre turn when authorities gained solid facts that the boy was the culprit in the denial of service attack on CNN.com. Amazingly enough, "Mafia's" father had taken out a contract to harm or frighten a business associate. The boy's house was wiretapped shortly after U.S. and Canadian investigators identified that someone who lived there had launched a disabling computer attack that had shut down CNN's web site and possibly other big sites in February. "We didn't think we could wait any longer," a Canadian police official said.
The youth, whose name has not been released, was arrested and charged with attempts to disrupt CNN sites. However, he was also the "principal suspect" in other computer raids, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The suspect, who attends Riverdale Public School in Pierrefonds, returned to class Wednesday pending a court appearance. However, he must follow strict guidelines for the time being. According to the conditions that made his temporary release possible, the boy cannot visit three of his best friends, he has to attend school and be at home every evening no later than 8:00 p.m.
According to Le Journal de Montreal, the boy's father, a chief executive with a transportation company, had a brush with the law when he attempted to use force against a business associate. According to that source, "Mafia's" father had confirmed talks with a hitman to either intimidate or use physical force against a fellow employee that he worked with.
Local computer hackers, meanwhile, poured scorn on "Mafiaboy," saying he was just a cheap imitator. "He is a vandal, a young man without any talent, who thinks that he is hot," said Montreal hacker Bruno Clermont. "He knew more about computers than the average person, but there was nothing in him that would justify calling him a genius," said RCMP spokesman Yves Roussel.
"Mafiaboy" is to appear on June 6 before a judge who will set a date for his trial.
His lawyer, Yan Romanowski, said he expected it to be "a long, complex and very technical trial."
According to Romanowski, prosecutors will have to show how a 15-year-old could do what he is accused of "to a multinational, which all certainly expected to be equipped with the most highly sophisticated and up-to-date security systems."
However, this may not be that far out of reach. Remember, it wasn't even 20 years ago that people were watching Wargames on the big screen. God willing, "Mafiaboy's" antics won't become the norm for youth in our world today. In a sick kind of way, the boy's pseudonym is warming to the heart now that we know more about him. Maybe he took that name because he was trying to live up to his father's expectations?
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