U.S., Canadian officials arrest suspect in Web attacks

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By GCN

By GCN

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APRIL 20—A joint FBI and Canadian law enforcement investigation led to the Tuesday arrest of a 15-year-old Quebec resident known online as "Mafiaboy." The young man allegedly launched distributed-denial-of-service attacks on American commercial Web sites in February, according to the FBI.

By Shruti Dat'

GCN Staff

APRIL 20—A joint FBI and Canadian law enforcement investigation led to the Tuesday arrest of a 15-year-old Quebec resident known online as "Mafiaboy." The young man allegedly launched distributed-denial-of-service attacks on American commercial Web sites in February, according to the FBI.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Computer Investigation and Support Unit in Montreal and the FBI National Infrastructure Protection Center in Washington conducted the international investigation. The attacks, which overloaded the sites with requests for information, were directed at the Web sites of CNN, Yahoo, E-Bay, Amazon.com, Excite and E-Trade.

Canadian officials have charged the youth with two counts of mischief against data. Officials from both law enforcement agencies are analyzing the evidence seized from a computer in the suspect's Quebec residence, according to the FBI.

"Cybercriminals are no longer constrained by borders, limited now only by the breadth of the Internet and the ingenuity of those using the technology," said FBI Director Louis Freeh in a statement. He emphasized the importance of cross-border law enforcement cooperation and private-sector partnerships to solve such cybercrimes.

"International cooperation is fundamentally vital to success against this new criminal phenomenon," said Bill Lynn, FBI assistant legal attach' at a press conference in Montreal yesterday.

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