The Australian Federal Police has arrested a 33-year-old man from Hampton Park in Victoria, claiming he hacked into more than 90 internet accounts.
The man has been under scrutiny by the AFP’s high-tech crime unit since last September, when a local telco alerted the AFP of suspicious activity being carried out within its network. Allegedly, the man hacked into nearly a hundred private and business internet accounts, downloading data and conducting other fraudulent activities. In a statement, the AFP said he managed to access account details through customers’ modems via the internet.
The nature of the data been stolen is not known yet and the identity of the telecommunications company remains unknown. The AFP said the telecommunications company re-set passwords after the warning, but that the man tried again to access unlawfully the accounts of its customers.
After a search warrant was executed yesterday, computer equipment was confiscated and the man arrested. He will now face Dandenong Magistrates Court today over computer intrusion-related charges, such as unauthorised access, modification or impairment with the intent to commit a serious offence.
National Manager of High Tech Crime Operations, Assistant Commissioner, Neil Gaughan said the arrest should remind people to protect their safety online. “Anyone can be targeted by criminals online, it’s important to be aware of the risks and take appropriate action to protect personal information,” he said.
“Members of the public need to ensure they choose strong passwords for online accounts which they update regularly, using a combination of capital letters, numbers and symbols to ensure they are difficult to decipher,” Gaughan said.
Image credit: Ayhan Yildiz, royalty free
Interesting.
The Internode section of Whirlpool has seen a number of phishing reports — false requests made for account login details.
I wonder if this arrest is related to that.
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