New Zealand police are so impressed by the skills of a teenager at the centre of a global credit card scam worth millions of pounds that they are considering offering him a job fighting cyber-crime.
In a surprising development, Owen Thor Walker, 18, who used the online name 'Akill', was discharged without conviction in the High Court at Hamilton after admitting his role in a sophisticated operation by a worldwide group of criminals calling themselves the 'A-Team'.
Detectives were astonished last November when, at the culmination of a year-long investigation involving the FBI and authorities in the Netherlands, they discovered that the 'mastermind' they were seeking was Walker, who was using a computer in his bedroom in the small rural town of Whitianga.
They described him as a 'botherder', the controller of a 'botnet' in which more than a million computers around the world were infected with a virus that gave him control over them.
Software he designed and sold to the criminal gang allowed members to steal user names and passwords, as well as credit card details.
The FBI estimated the combined economic losses from the 'skimming' activities and damage caused to computer systems by the group at more than $20 million (£10 million).
The crime came to light after one attack caused computers to crash at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006.
In court yesterday, Walker, who has Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, smiled as he heard the prosecution describe how international investigators considered his programming to be 'amongst the most advanced' they had encountered.
Judge Judith Potter described him as a young man with a bright future and ordered him to pay damages and costs of £5,500, but did not record a conviction.
She said that Walker was immature and unable to set proper boundaries for himself in relation to his 'undoubted expertise' in computers.
If he had been convicted, he could have faced five years' imprisonment on each of the charges.
Both the prosecution and defence counsels said in court that police were interested in talking to him about a job 'on the right side of the law'.
Detective Inspector Peter Devoy said that while 'there is no offer on the table, the option is being kept open'.
Maarten Kleintjes, head of the police e-crime laboratory, said the self-taught Walker had a unique ability and was 'at the top of his field'.
Outside the court, Walker, who is also being headhunted by several computer programming companies, said he would be very interested in putting his skills to use for the police.
By Paul Chapman
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