Teenage Cyber Whiz Redirects Mediterranean Vessels Just for Kicks!

A 15-year-old hacker obtained access to several web portals in Italy, enabling him to modify the routes of oil tankers and various vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.

Most hackers in the present day pursue financial objectives as they attempt to breach companies and organizations, steal information, and lock out users to demand ransoms. However, there was a period when hackers aimed to infiltrate secure sites merely to prove they could.

The same applies to the young individual from Cesena, Italy, who began his hacking journey with the intention of altering his academic grades. He started searching for methods to infiltrate systems owned by the Ministry of Education and Merit. As reported by Corriere di Bologna, he merely intended to adjust a few grades from 5 to 6 (F to E).

The hacker successfully modified his grades; however, he eventually shifted his attention to other targets. It’s uncertain why he selected the target he did, yet he also succeeded in infiltrating systems that enabled him to change ship routes in the Mediterranean Sea.

While altering his academic grades did not garner the authorities’ attention, messing with maritime routers is a different issue altogether. After an investigation, the 15-year-old was pinpointed and referred to the Juvenile Court of Bologna.

After the revelation of the young hacker’s activities became public knowledge, the Ministry of Education and Merit released a statement affirming that their systems remain secure.

“Checks conducted did not uncover any access or breaches within the information systems of the Ministry of Education and Merit,” the authorities stated. “Consequently, the alleged and significant violations of the student’s IT platforms did not affect the information systems managed at the ministerial level. It is highly probable that unauthorized access involved the electronic registry, which is not a tool overseen by the Ministry of Education and Merit.”

Conversely, the same cannot be asserted regarding the critical infrastructure he seemingly compromised, and there is currently no available information on how he managed to infiltrate these systems.