Second British teenage boy arrested over hacking of FBI
A BRITISH schoolboy has been arrested and questioned by detectives about his role in an alleged attempt to hack into the FBI’s computer system.
The 15–year–old from Glasgow was grilled in the presence of federal agents from the US on Tuesday.
His arrest came just days after a 16–year– old boy in the East Midlands was accused of hacking targets including the White House, Justice Department, a senior FBI executive and the director of the CIA.
Sources close to the case confirmed that Police Scotland acted on information passed to them by an English force. The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit refused to deny the two cases were connected.
Police arrested the older boy at his home last week on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act after an investigation on both sides of the Atlantic. He is accused of being the leader of a group of hackers called ‘Crackas With Attitude’. Going under the pseudonym ‘Cracka’, he is
‘He comes from a respectable family’
alleged to have collected huge amounts of sensitive data before dumping it online and leaking confidential documents to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
CIA director John Brennan’s personal email was among a number targeted. The names and addresses of 30,000 FBI and Department of Homeland Security employees were also obtained.
And a hacker with similarities to Cracka last week published the names, telephone numbers and emails of more than 20,000 FBI agents. Senior FBI executive Amy Hess was a victim of an alleged Cracka hacking attack last October.
The 15– year– old teenager was also arrested under the Computer Misuse Act and his home in Glasgow searched.
A source said: ‘The boy is believed to have hacked into the FBI’s computer systems.
‘Agents travelled to Scotland to sit in on him being questioned by detectives. He could be extradited to the US, where he would face a long jail term.’
A source close to the case told the Daily Record newspaper the boy’s family were horrified at the allegations, adding: ‘He comes from a respectable family.’
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘A 15– year–old male was arrested in connection with alleged offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.’ He added that a report would be sent to the procurator fiscal.