Owen Thor Walker has been convicted in New Zealand for his role in a global crime ring that infected at least 1.3 million computers worldwide. The crime ring caused about 20 million in economic damages.
Eighteen year old
Walker allegedly lead the computer hackers. He plead guilty to six computer crimes in Thames, New Zealand. He will appear again in court on May 28 to begin the sentencing process.
Walker will likely not spend any time in jail for his part in the crimes. Walker suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. If he does end up with prison time he could face maximum sentences of five years.
Walker went by the online name of "Akill" and was still in school when he began committing the alleged crimes.
He was able to design a unique encrypted virus that antivirus software was unable to detect. The virus was able to access user names and passwords and credit card numbers. That information was then used by others to commit crimes.
The crime spree was halted by New Zealand police working hand in hand with the F.B.I. and Dutch authorities. A computer attack on the server at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 was the beginning of the end for the crime spree.
Walker was living at home at the time. He parents thought that he was doing legal computer programming work.
