back to article Accused Aussie game hacker flees to Europe ahead of trial

An Australian man facing 25 hacking charges has fled to Europe ahead of a court hearing for his alleged involvement in an international hacking operation targeting Microsoft, Valve, Epic, and the US Army, according to reports. The 19 year-old Perth man, who cannot be named as he was arrested as a juvenile in May 2013, is …

  1. msknight

    Translated...

    "The attacks were said to have caused some $100m in damages"

    ...it cost them $100 million in contractors to install the security they should have installed in the first place but tried to shave off the invoice.

    1. MrDamage Silver badge

      Re: Translated...

      More like:

      "The attacks were said to have caused some $100m in embarrassment."

    2. silent_count

      $100 million.

      The dollar amount is pure nonsense. From the article in 'The Australian', "The FBI alleged a group of five hackers based in the US, Canada and Australia had stolen intellectual property worth $100 million-$200m."

      They don't know what was "stolen". If they did they'd have a more accurate figure than, "Aww. You know. A hundred million. Or wait! Maybe it was two hundred million."

      Maybe the reason they don't know how much it was worth is because it really was stolen - that is, the victims no longer have the files in question and thus are having difficulty determining how much the missing files are worth. That couldn't possibly be right, could it?

      1. msknight

        Re: $100 million.

        "Maybe the reason they don't know how much it was worth is because it really was stolen - that is, the victims no longer have the files in question and thus are having difficulty determining how much the missing files are worth. That couldn't possibly be right, could it?"

        ...Only if they didn't have backups. No fool carries on like that these days.

        Oh! Wait! These are the people that dreamed up a $100 million figure out of thin air.

        OK, so they didn't have backups then and are in deep shit... and the money is what it's going to cost them in peanuts to feed the monkeys to re-type the works of Shakespeare...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    court delays and harassment by West Australian police

    if I were a cynic, I'd say they did it on purpose, to make him go on the run...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: court delays and harassment by West Australian police

      You are crediting them with a lot of forethought, I would put my money on training and staff quality, both are likely not noticeably positive attributes. Messing him about does run a close second though and I would not rule out a subtle* mix of the two.

      *Subtle like a steam hammer

      1. Shrimpling

        Re: court delays and harassment by West Australian police

        Indeed... the phase that comes to mind is "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

  3. M7S
    Joke

    Person of Interest

    Did his number come up then?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Moron...

    "...has fled to Europe"

    Not exactly the destination you'd choose if you're trying to evade arrest. On second thought, maybe he wanted to go to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Moron...

      > Not exactly the destination you'd choose if you're trying to evade arrest.

      Doesn't say where in Europe, does it? I can't really see Moscow being particularly cooperative with Canberra on this issue. Or Prague... the Australians will die crushed under a pile of forms before they get anywhere. That'll teach them to be difficult, mind.

    2. Mark 65

      Re: Moron...

      Northern Cyprus?

  5. Elmer Phud

    Australian Take-away

    When he is about to be put on a plane and sent home -- can you Aussies please take Lynton Crosby with you.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Australian Take-away

      Jeez - who would have imagined that there was such a thing as a Lynton Crosby fan to downvote you?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Australian Take-away

        Plot twist:

        Lynton Crosby lurks on El Reg!

      2. FozzyBear

        Re: Australian Take-away

        No Fans here just the aussies down voting the idea of having the bastard back

  6. Yag
    Trollface

    "seven counts of possessing child-exploitation material"

    Perhaps nude pictures of his 15 years-old girlfriend from several years ago?

    1. MrDamage Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: "seven counts of possessing child-exploitation material"

      Or 15 under-18 friends on Facebook.

  7. Geoffrey Thomas

    Plus Ca Change....

    "The FBI alleged a group of five hackers based in the US, Canada and Australia had stolen intellectual property worth $100 million-$200m, including unreleased video games, design specifications for Microsoft’s new Xbox console and the US army’s simulation software for the Apache helicopter."

    How reassuring, in these insecure times, to see that Microsoft and the us military have their systems bolted down tight against intrusion.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Meh

      Re: Plus Ca Change....

      Hasn't kernal.org been hacked and rooted as well? Still the repositories, were secured using sha-1, which as we know is rock solid.

      So please show me a major vendor with an un-hackble system.

      1. Geoffrey Thomas

        Re: Plus Ca Change....

        Air gaps would be nice for military stuff.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Plus Ca Change....

          There are a lot of air gaps for military stuff....

          Normally located between the ears of the "leaders".

  8. ItsNotMe
    Devil

    Heading for the Ecuadorian Embassy in London by any chance?

    They may have space available.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They shouldn't worry

    the Australian Federal Police will just hand him over - no questions asked. The unnamed Australian had better hope that this is not a capital offence.

    The Australian government broke its own laws by handing over another alleged "pirate" to the United States. The kid in question had never left Australia, and had not committed a crime in Australia. The basis of an extradition is that the offence has to be a crime in both countries. But the Australian government in its snivelling and grovelling to the United States is prepared to hand over its citizens. In recent weeks we have seen that the grovelling extended to other countries apart from the United States - making our citizenship close to worthless in the globalised world.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you run OR touch the TV camera

    BAM!

    guilty

  11. Old Handle
    Black Helicopters

    This story would be so much more exciting if you deleted " training program".

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