Monday, April 14, 2008

Man Who Found Software Bugs On Trial In Germany For Extortion

A DPA newswire article, via Monsters & Critics, reports that:

A computer expert from Turkey who discovered bugs in US software went on trial in Germany Monday for attempted extortion after he demanded payment to explain the security flaws.

The trial in the German city of Braunschweig highlights the shadowy trade in 'exploits,' in which companies pay freelance programmers bounties to reveal software flaws before criminal hackers discover them.

The man, 29, demanded a total of 167,000 dollars from a US internet service provider and a telephone company, prosecutors said.

To step up the pressure on his 'clients,' he broke into their computer systems and altered customer data to demonstrate the exploit, prosecutors claim.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) traced him to Germany, where he was arrested.

More here.

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