Hacker in demand

2009-02-01

Helen Martin

Virus Bulletin, UK

Editor: Helen Martin

Abstract

Romanian hacker impresses Italian authorities with intellect.

A 22-year-old Romanian hacker who is currently serving a three‑year prison sentence, may soon find himself on the other side of the bars working for Italian law enforcement agencies.

Gabriel Bogdan Ionescu was arrested in Romania in December 2007 and extradited to Italy where he was found guilty of having been involved in an attack on the Italian Post Office, cloning the site and drawing money from compromised accounts. However, Ionescu has since made a good impression with the Italian authorities – when permitted to sit the entrance exam for the Faculty of Informatics Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan in October, he achieved the highest score on record for the Faculty.

Now, after some similarly impressive academic achievements, Ionescu has been offered a part-time position by Way-Log, a company that specializes in the monitoring of online criminal activity and which assists the Italian authorities with the investigation of online crimes.

A hearing is scheduled to take place in May to decide whether the young Romanian will be allowed to move from prison to house arrest so that he can fulfil the duties required of him.

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