Queensland Police, in conjunction with the FBI, have this morning charged a Queensland guy with hacking offences after he breached an as-yet-undisclosed US gaming network.
Photo: Queensland Police
The man, a 21-year old Kingaroy resident, is alleged to have hacked into a US gaming company’s computer network and lifted confidential files. Screenshots and info from those files were then reportedly posted on Twitter. Worse still, the man is also alleged of offering a paid search service of the company’s player records.
Presumably this guy was a leaker of some description, but the alleged paid search stuff is dodgy if true.
We’ve asked the Queensland Police to disclose which gaming service was hacked, considering it could be anything from EA’s Origin through to Valve’s Steam platform or even Xbox Live or PlayStation Network (again). We’re waiting to hear back, but it’s unlikely they’ll tell us.
The Queensland man has been charged with three counts of computer hacking and misuse, and multiple accounts of fraud. Police also executed a search warrant on a separate property yesterday, reportedly nabbing a computer which was concealed in an “encrypted case”. Fancy way of saying a safe, but sure.
Someone should also tell that forensics officer photographed above that using a trackpad will be tough with those gloves on. #justsaying
The accused man will appear in court again on 8 April.
Queensland Police worked in conjunction with the FBI on the investigation, and its not the first time legal big-wigs have come down from North America to check in with alleged Australian gaming offences. You may remember SuperDAE who was raided by the FBI in conjunction with West Australian police after allegedly leaking the details of the Xbox One way back before it was even officially called that.