17 Year Old KPN Hacker Has Been Freed Temporarily, But He Can't Access Internet
The Dutch teen, who was the prime suspect of hacking into customer account data on hundreds of servers belonging to telecommunications operator KPN is set to be freed temporarily on Thursday. Dutch Public Prosecution Service said that the 17 year old KPN hacker has been allowed to wait at home for his criminal proceedings to begin.
The teenager's attorney asked that the teenager be freed temporarily, a request granted by the Rotterdam court and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, spokesman Wim de Bruin of the Prosecution Service said. "He can wait in freedom for his criminal case to start," De Bruin said. The hearings will take place this summer, he added.
The teenager was freed on the condition that he would not use the Internet at all, De Bruin said. If he had not have agreed to this, he would have had to remain in custody until the proceedings started, he added.
The youth was arrested on March 27 by the Dutch High Tech Crime Team in the Dutch town of Barendrecht. He is suspected of breaching the security of hundreds of KPN servers last January, damaging KPN's infrastructure and compromising user data. The biggest telecom operator in the Netherlands was forced to overhaul its systems to delete malicious software found on its servers. In the wake of the hack, KPN was also forced to temporarily suspend access to, and later reset the passwords of more than 2 million email accounts.
The teenager was freed on the condition that he would not use the Internet at all, De Bruin said. If he had not have agreed to this, he would have had to remain in custody until the proceedings started, he added.
The youth was arrested on March 27 by the Dutch High Tech Crime Team in the Dutch town of Barendrecht. He is suspected of breaching the security of hundreds of KPN servers last January, damaging KPN's infrastructure and compromising user data. The biggest telecom operator in the Netherlands was forced to overhaul its systems to delete malicious software found on its servers. In the wake of the hack, KPN was also forced to temporarily suspend access to, and later reset the passwords of more than 2 million email accounts.
-Source (PCWorld)