Young Hacking Ring Busted by Quebec Authorities

Hackers have been at it again, and this time they made their millions with a French Canadian accent. Quebec authorities recently broke up a ring of seventeen hackers responsible for $45 million in damages.

According to police, the hacking ring operated primarily from Quebec small towns Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Jonquieres, and a few others. With their headquarters in rather remote and certainly unexpected locales, the group of reportedly very young (17 to 26) computer experts took control of thousands of systems from Poland to Brazil. (Source: canada.com)

In total, police suspect this group is behind hacks covering one hundred different countries. Trying to put their impact in perspective, police Captain Frederick Gaudreau described the group as "500 times more powerful than Mafiaboy," a former Montreal hacker who made life miserable for major American web companies Amazon, eBay, and CNN. (Source: ctv.ca)

What were these hackers up to?

As usual, very little good. According to police -- who have been hesitant to release many details -- the group used worms and Trojan horses, the usual fare, to work their way into home, office, and government systems. Botnets were reportedly used as well, giving the group control over tens of thousands of users.

Although the number of systems hit in Canada is fairly slim (about 3,800), in Poland (39,000), Brazil (28,000), and Mexico (26,000) far more computers were stalked by the troublesome team.

The $45 million tally is based exclusively on damages inflicted upon computer servers and as of yet does not include any fraud the group may have been responsible for.

Sounds like this is just the tip of the iceberg.