The identity of a, so-called, Anonymous hacker accused of targeting the Indonesian Government and personal details of thousands of AAPT (A Telecommunication company)customers, has been revealed. The hacker lives in Scarborough and in his free time when he is not fundraising for cancer he is a surf lifesaver.
The hacker, on his name Adam John Bennett, was accused of hacking into the database of AAPT Telecommunications company and stealing personal information of the company’s customers such as credit card details, Medicare, addresses and phone numbers.
In his 40’s, Mr. Bennett was the Director of Paynes Find Gold Limited and starting from this week,is also involved in fundraising campaigns for cancer – he is the fundraising manager for Cancer Support WA. When it comes to Mr. Bennett’s spare time, his main focus is on National Lifesaving Championships as he is an experienced surf lifesaver.
The accusations brought to Bennetthad a great impact over his collaborators as Cancer Support WA started to investigate the case on their own: “We are aware that a staff member, Adam Bennett, was charged on Thursday and that he is assisting with a Federal police investigation. We take the matter very seriously and are investigating internally“, as a spokesperson declared to The Weekend West.
Federal authorities claim that Mr Bennett or “Lorax” (his online pseudonym) hacked AAPT servers in 2012 and obtained more than 200,000 names and 100,000 email addresses. Lorax is also accused of compromising the integrity of Indonesian Government web servers.
After the investigations regarding security breaches of the Government, Australian Communications and Media Authority were launched, the investigators began chasing forLorax his teenage accomplice in NSW.
Mr. Bennett’s property from Scarboroughwas raided and several hard drives were taken but it will take a lot of time forthe investigators to analyse their content.
Mr Bennett didn’t strive to hide his social media profiles, as they were available to everyone to see(Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages). Posting online under the Lorax nickname, the hacker managed to have sustained activity on the internet. His last message posted on Facebook last week was:”Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!”
These been said, when it came to bail conditions imposed by a Perth magistrate, internetrestrictions were clear: the hacker access is limited at banking, employment and legal advice. Next month, the hacker is due to appear on court.
AFP’s national manager high tech crime operations, Tim Morris,explained thatthe impact of online attacks on government and business services cannot be neglected:”Hacking activities can affect everyone from small businesses right up to large government organizations.These acts can cause serious disruption to government and business networks, which in turn can be catastrophic for people who rely on these networks to run their small business or administer their entitlements or personal finances. The impairment or disruption of communications to or from computer networks is a criminal act, not harmless fun.”
