A 12-year-old boy in Montreal has pleaded guilty to hacking charges after allegedly cracking government and police websites on Anonymous’ behalf.
The fifth grader - yes, you read that correctly - assisted the hacktivist collective by hijacking websites belonging to the Montreal police, the Quebec Institute of Public Health, and the government of Chile, among others. The attacks included bringing down the sites’ servers, defacing their appearance, and gaining access to user data, to the tune of $60,000 worth of damage. The hacks took place in 2012, when Anonymous became embroiled in widespread student protests in Quebec.
Unlike Anonymous’ political motivations, however, the boy reportedly carried out the attacks in exchange for video games. Someone hire the little genius.
