Australian teen receives 8 months probation for hacking Apple's corporate network
An Australian teen who gained unauthorized access to Apple's corporate network has been sentenced to eight months probation for his crimes, which included the collection of about one terabyte of sensitive data gleaned from company servers.
Apple's "global command" data center in Mesa, Ariz. | Source: The Republic
As scheduled, the Melbourne teen, who has not been named because he was a minor at the time of the crime, received sentencing on Thursday.
The now adult defendant faced two charges related to hacking, one carrying a maximum sentence of two years in custody and another carrying a maximum sentence of one year. He entered a guilty plea in August.
During the proceedings, a magistrate told the Children's Court that the offenses carried out by the defendant were "serious, sustained and sophisticated," reports Bloomberg.
Over the course of two years, the defendant conducted a series of attacks on Apple's internal systems, using highly protected "authorized keys" and software to remotely access offsite servers. Apple security personnel ultimately discovered the intrusion and notified the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, which handed the case over to the Australian Federal Police.
A raid of the boy's suburban home last year yielded two Apple laptops, a mobile phone and a hard drive associated with the hack. In all, nearly one terabyte of secure files and customer data was stolen, some of which landed in a file named "hacky hack hack."
Apple in a statement said no customer information was compromised due to the attack.
In past reports, the teen was described as a fan of Apple who dreamed of one day working for the company.
Apple's "global command" data center in Mesa, Ariz. | Source: The Republic
As scheduled, the Melbourne teen, who has not been named because he was a minor at the time of the crime, received sentencing on Thursday.
The now adult defendant faced two charges related to hacking, one carrying a maximum sentence of two years in custody and another carrying a maximum sentence of one year. He entered a guilty plea in August.
During the proceedings, a magistrate told the Children's Court that the offenses carried out by the defendant were "serious, sustained and sophisticated," reports Bloomberg.
Over the course of two years, the defendant conducted a series of attacks on Apple's internal systems, using highly protected "authorized keys" and software to remotely access offsite servers. Apple security personnel ultimately discovered the intrusion and notified the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, which handed the case over to the Australian Federal Police.
A raid of the boy's suburban home last year yielded two Apple laptops, a mobile phone and a hard drive associated with the hack. In all, nearly one terabyte of secure files and customer data was stolen, some of which landed in a file named "hacky hack hack."
Apple in a statement said no customer information was compromised due to the attack.
In past reports, the teen was described as a fan of Apple who dreamed of one day working for the company.
Comments
"In all, nearly one terabyte of secure files and customer data was stolen"
That sounds like he took stuff.
I'm sure he has learnt the lesson and been diverted from being a future Lex Luthor.
At his age his brain is still nothing but soft mush. I wonder what moral compass his parents have instilled in him. Sure, curiosity is a good thing but it also killed the cat.
"Apple in a statement said no customer information was compromised due to the attack. "
No data was compromised as far as I know. I remember reading a report that said the data was encrypted and he and no one else could see it or know what it was.
These are just your typical anti-Apple stories making the rounds and an iKnockoff slave already told me "At least Samsung doesn't get hacked by 16-year-olds!"
The point is, as far as I know, he had nothing important, just blobs of encrypted stuff. It's like pirating a movie except you don't know what movie it is or how to open it.
This story is just as overblown and anti-Apple as the celebrity nude photos one.
2) Whether the data he stole was encrypted or not is irrelevant to the fact that he stole data.