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Saturday, January 06, 2007

Venezuelan teen detained in hacking case

Venezuelan teen detained in hacking case
By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 5, 3:48 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela - A 17-year-old has been detained by Venezuelan
authorities after hacking into multiple government Web sites and posting
playful photos of President Hugo Chavez and his close ally, Cuba's
Fidel Castro.

The boy modified 23 Web sites — including those of the vice president's
office, the National Guard and the investigative police — in late
December, said Oswaldo Guevara, the investigative police's head of
computer-related crimes.

He appended his hacker name — "J41ber" — and home telephone number on
the photo postings and other cosmetic changes made to the home pages,
and the modifications included photomontages of Chavez and Castro,
Guevara said.

Local media reported the boy, who was living in a poor neighborhood in
western Carabobo state, was hoping his actions would win him a job with
the private telecommunications company hosting the Web sites.

But Guevara said he believed the boy, who was enrolled in an
introductory computer science course, had more malicious intentions.

The hacking forced the immigration office, which handles passports and
residency permits, to close its Web site for 24 hours. But all the Web
sites were now back to normal, no permanent damage was done and the boy
never accessed sensitive data, Guevara said.

Guevara said it is only the second time that a hacker has been arrested
in Venezuela. The first was in 2003, when a hacker was caught breaking
into a secure, private Web site, he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_hi_te/venezuela_hacker_2

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