Alarm raised on teenage hackers

Many teenage hackers publicise their exploits on YouTube
Increasing numbers of teenagers are starting to dabble in hi-tech crime, say experts.

Computer security professionals say many net forums are populated by teenagers swapping credit card numbers, phishing kits and hacking tips.

The poor technical skills of many young hackers means they are very likely to get caught and arrested, they say.

Youth workers added that any teenager getting a criminal record would be putting their future at risk.

Slippery slope

"I see kids of 11 and 12 sharing credit card details and asking for hacks," said Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Security.

Many teenagers got into low level crime by looking for exploits and cracks for their favourite computer games.

Communities and forums spring up where people start to swap malicious programs, knowledge and sometimes stolen data. For a kid, getting a criminal record is the worst possible move

Graham Robb, Youth Justice Board

Some also look for exploits and virus code that can be run against the social networking sites popular with many young people. Some then try to peddle or use the details or accounts they net in this way.

Mr Boyd said he spent a lot of time tracking down the creators of many of the nuisance programs written to exploit users of social networking sites and the culprit was often a teenager.

From such virus and nuisance programs, he said, many progress to outright criminal practices such as using phishing kits to create and run their own scams.

"Some are quite crude, some are clever and some are stupid," he said.

The teenagers' attempts to make money from their life of cyber crime usually came unstuck because of their poor technical skills.

"They do not even know enough to get a simple phishing or attack tool right," said Kevin Hogan, a senior manager Symantec Security Response.

"We have seen phishing sites that have broken images because the link, rather than reference the original webpage, is referencing a file on the C: drive that is not there," he said.

Symantec researchers have collected many examples of teenagers who have managed to cripple their own PCs by infecting them with viruses they have written.

Video choice

Chris Boyd from FaceTime said many of the young criminal hackers were undermined by their desire to win recognition for their exploits.
Many teenage hackers publicise their exploits on YouTube

"They are obsessed with making videos of what they are doing," he said.

Many post videos of what they have done to sites such as YouTube and sign on with the same alias used to hack a site, run a phishing attack or write a web exploit.

Many share photos or other details of their life on other sites making it easy for computer security experts to track them down and get them shut down.

Mr Boyd's action to shut down one wannabe hacker, using the name YoGangsta50, was so comprehensive that it wrung a pledge from the teenager in question to never to get involved in petty hi-tech crime again.

Mathew Bevan, a reformed hacker who was arrested as a teenager and then acquitted for his online exploits, said it was no surprise that young people were indulging in online crime.

"It's about the thrill and power to prove they are somebody," he said. That also explains why they stuck with an alias or online identity even though it was compromised, he added.

"The aim of what they are doing is to get the fame within their peer group," he said. "They spend months or years developing who they are and their status. They do not want to give that up freely."

Graham Robb, a board member of the Youth Justice Board, said teenagers needed to appreciate the risks they took by falling into hi-tech crime.

"If they get a criminal record it stays with them," he said. "A Criminal Record Bureau check will throw that up and it could prevent access to jobs."

Anyone arrested and charged for the most serious crimes would carry their criminal record with them throughout their life.

Also, he added, young people needed to appreciate the impact of actions carried out via the net and a computer.

"Are they going to be able to live with the fact that they caused harm to other people?" he said. "They do not think there is someone losing their money or their savings from what they are doing.

"For a kid, getting a criminal record is the worst possible move."

Borat star to 'edit sex scenes'

Sacha Baron Cohen's first movie was originally awarded an R-rating

Sacha Baron Cohen's latest film, based on his character Bruno, has been given a rating in the US banning anyone aged 17 or under watching it, reports say.

Industry paper Variety said the ratings board - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) - objected to several sexual scenes.

It was awarded a NC-17, but film bosses had hoped for an R-rating, which allows under 17s to watch it with an adult.

The film is being re-edited before it is resubmitted to the MPAA.

The deleted sequences are likely to be saved for the DVD release at a later date.

The film is based around Bruno, a gay fashion reporter for Austrian TV, who was a character Sacha Baron created for TV's Da Ali G Show.

The movie follows in the success of his first film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

It was originally rated NC-17, but was later changed to an R-rating.

The Bruno film, which has been largely filmed in the US, is set to be released on 10 July

US court dismisses smoking appeal

The judgment has grown to more than $145m with interest
The US Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by cigarette maker Philip Morris over a $79.5m (£56m) award to the widow of a long-time Oregon smoker.

The court upheld a 1999 ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court in favour of Mayola Williams.

Having heard arguments in December, the judges said in a one-sentence order that they were not passing judgement on the legal issues presented.

The judgement has grown to more than $145m with interest.

Jesse Williams died of lung cancer in 1997 having smoked for 40 years.

Ms Williams sued the cigarette manufacturer for fraud on behalf of her husband.

She said Philip Morris had committed a "massive market-directed fraud" for many years - misleading people into thinking cigarettes were not dangerous or addictive.

Ms Williams argued that her husband had believed tobacco companies when they said the product was safe.

The $79.5m judgement against the tobacco giant was issued by an Oregon jury in 1999 and came before the Supreme Court in 2003 and 2007.

On both those occasions it set aside the Williams award and ordered reconsideration.

In the latest case, Philip Morris was seeking a new trial or at least another hearing before the Oregon Supreme Court, arguing that some judges had ignored Supreme Court rulings restricting awards.

After the ruling, Murray Garnick, a spokesman for the agency representing Philip Morris USA, said: "While we had hoped for a different outcome, the Supreme Court has decided not to review a narrow procedural ruling by the state court.

"Today's decision does not impact the court's earlier decisions on punitive damages.

"Importantly, the Court did not disturb its 2007 Williams decision which held that a jury may not impose punitive damages for harm caused to anyone other than the plaintiff in a particular case," added Garnick.

A statement on behalf of Philip Morris said the Supreme Court's decision did not end the dispute, adding that Oregon state law requires 60% of any punitive damages be paid to the state, and that Oregon was party to an agreement precluding it from collecting any punitive damages from the company.

"If Philip Morris USA prevails, the company would be obligated to pay only the remaining 40% of the punitive damages awarded to the plaintiff in this case," the statement concluded.

Iran and US hold 'cordial' talks

Hillary Clinton welcomed Iran's participation in the meeting
The US envoy to Afghanistan has held "a cordial exchange" with Iran's deputy foreign minister, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

The meeting between Richard Holbrooke and Mohammad Mehdi Akhoondzadeh took place on the sidelines of a meeting in The Hague to discuss Afghanistan.

The US has welcomed Iran's presence at the meeting.

Analysts say the easing of tensions between the US and Tehran is due to a new tone set by the Obama White House.

Earlier, Iran gave a guarded welcome to US plans to increase regional co-operation over Afghanistan.

"In the course of the conference today, our special representative for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, had a brief and cordial exchange with the head of the Iranian delegation," Mrs Clinton told a news conference.

She said the meeting had been unplanned, but Mr Holbrooke and Mr Akhoondzadeh had agreed to "stay in touch".

She added that Iran's presence at Tuesday's meeting was "a promising sign that there will be future co-operation".

Afghan reconstruction

Mrs Clinton was speaking at the end of the one-day meeting of delegates from 70 countries and other organisations interested in rebuilding Afghanistan.

The meeting was called by the UN amid widespread concern that not enough progress has been made since the US-led invasion in 2001.
During the conference, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said much of the aid given to his country had been wasted.

He said the failure to deliver aid effectively was a cause of widespread grievance among Afghans.

In response, Mrs Clinton said aid should be more effectively spent, but added that the Afghan state needed to be more accountable and had to tackle corruption.

She said the cost of remaining in Afghanistan in the long term might be high, but it would be worth it.

"Let us be guided by an ancient afghan proverb - patience can be bitter, but its fruit is sweet," she said.

BBC international development correspondent David Loyn says US President Barack Obama's new Afghan strategy was given a broad welcome at the conference.

Anti-drugs campaign

Mr Akhoondzadeh said Iran was fully prepared to participate in "projects aimed at combating drug trafficking and the plans in line with developing and reconstructing Afghanistan".

However, he was critical of US plans to send more troops to the region, saying the money would be better spent on building Afghanistan's own forces.

"The presence of foreign forces has not improved things in the country, and it seems than an increase in the number of foreign forces will prove ineffective, too," he said.

Analysis: Why attack Lahore?

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad

Lahore - Pakistan's cultural capital - has faced its share of militant attacks, but it has not had to put up with the kind of sustained campaign it now appears to be facing.

The raid on the police training centre near the city has brought home the fact that the attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team earlier this month was not a one-off incident.

"Lahore is the only city in Pakistan which has remained relatively peaceful since the 9/11 attacks," says a security official.

Whoever wants to destabilise the country or the government, would go after Lahore

Pakistani security official


'I saw the attackers'
How attack started
In pictures: Lahore siege
"For the last few years, it has hosted cultural festivals, concerts and cricket matches with aplomb, while the rest of Pakistan has been up in flames.

"It has been Pakistan's saving grace, and whoever wants to destabilise the country or the government, would go after Lahore," the official says.

Suspects

There are a number of reasons why Lahore could be the centre of such attacks.

Many people suspect Taleban militants in Pakistan's north-west. Almost all major attacks inside Pakistan in recent years have been traced back to the tribal areas near the Afghan border.


Officials said they had arrested several suspects

Taleban militants fighting the Pakistani army have openly admitted planning and carrying out many of the attacks.

They recently issued a propaganda video which took responsibility for carrying out a number of suicide bombings on security forces over the last two years. At least two of them were carried out in Lahore.

Fingers have also been pointed at the Lashker-e-Taiba, as they were after the attack on the Sri Lanka team.

Some experts say the attacks could be retaliation by elements within the group for the crackdown on it following the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai last November.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

Others, like Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, accuse Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which the US believes has close ties with al-Qaeda.

"Almost all the recent major terror attacks have either been claimed or traced back to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi," he told reporters in Lahore soon after Monday's siege ended.

India, too, is blamed by many Pakistani government and security officials, who suspect retaliation for the Mumbai attacks. This was also a view voiced after the attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers.

Many analysts are quick to point out the change in tactics, and believe that the attacks are the handiwork of a new militant group.

'Assault tactics'

But what many seem to have forgotten is how it all began.

Pakistani militants only started using suicide attacks in a co-ordinated manner in 2004.

The first target was Karachi where a series of bomb attack in May that year left more than 100 people dead.



We will eventually start using assault tactics again, when we have regained our strength in men



Pakistani militant leader



Since then, they have become increasingly popular, and now a suicide bombing is almost a daily occurrence in North West Frontier Province.

While experts have posited a number of theories for this change of tactics, the militants themselves say there was one clear reason.

"We started using the suicide bomber because we were under siege at the time," a militant leader told me in 2006.

"We were short of trained men as many had been arrested or killed in the crackdown following 9/11.

"The places where we could set-up training camps were also declared out of bounds.

"The easiest way to fight back was to use a bomb and the easiest way to ensure its success was to use someone to manually detonate the device. Little training was needed, and the younger the bomber the easier it was to convince them," the militant said.

But he added that the suicide bomber was not always effective, especially if the target was spread over a large area.

"We will eventually start using assault tactics again, when we have regained our strength in men," he concluded.

That increasingly appears to be the case, as the militants deploy a variety of different tactics in the field.

'Next Taleban state'

More than anything, this means that whatever Pakistan's government says, the power of the militants has increased substantially over the last two years.

MAJOR PAKISTAN ATTACKS
27 March 09: Suicide bomber demolishes crowded mosque near the north-western town of Jamrud, killing dozens

3 March 09: Six policemen and a driver killed, and several cricketers injured, in ambush on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore
20 Sept 08: 54 die in an attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad
6 Sept 08: Suicide car bombing kills 35 and wounds 80 at a police checkpoint in Peshawar
Aug 08: Twin suicide bombings at gates of a weapons factory in town of Wah leave 67 dead
March 08: Suicide bombs hit police headquarters and suburban house in Lahore, killing 24

Political instability has given them encouragement, and they have thrived as they once did during the 1990s under state patronage.

Whether Pakistan's current government is up to the task of taking them on remains to be seen.

President Asif Zardari's government certainly has the desire to go after the militants.

But whether it has the required backing from the military is an open question.

Pakistan's military has always seen the country's "strategic interests" through a different lens from the civilian governments.

In the past the military has acted as godfather to the militants.

But never has the country faced as great an internal threat as it does now.

Experts say the situation can still be remedied if both parties agree that eliminating the militants is in Pakistan's best interests.

If that does not happen, there appears little to prevent Pakistan from becoming the next Taleban state.

Arab leaders back 'wanted' Bashir

The ICC arrest warrant has been flouted by Sudan's leader



Arab leaders have concluded their annual summit by showing their support for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir who is wanted for war crimes.

The Arab League said it rejected the International Criminal Court's decision to issue a warrant for his arrest.

President Bashir had earlier spoken at the summit in Qatar, and won strong support from his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

They were among 17 heads of state in Qatar, but some seats remained empty.

The most notable absentee was President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Correspondents say he is unhappy with Qatar's stance during the recent Gaza conflict.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Katya Adler, in Qatar, says earlier reports that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had stormed out of the Arab League summit were incorrect.

'Massacres and atrocities'

"We stress our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the ICC (International Criminal Court) decision," a joint statement by the Arab League said at the end of the summit.

Earlier in the day, Syrian President Assad said those who had "committed massacres and atrocities in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon" should be arrested first.

Many African states, along with Sudan's key ally China, have called for the ICC proceedings to be suspended, arguing they will hamper efforts to bring peace to Darfur.

President Bashir attended the summit to thank the leaders for their support.

Qatar has not signed the ICC charter, which obliges a member state to arrest those indicted by the court when they enter its territory