Not too long ago Owen Thor Walker was a rich teenager. At 18, the New Zealander was running a massive botnet that reportedly controlled thousands of computers and which had illegally skimmed $20.4 million from the bank accounts of its victims. Today Walker stands as a convicted criminal after admitting six charges of using computers for illegal purposes. He was arrested in November following an FBI investigation and his sentencing will take place in May. The New Zealand Press Association reports that Walker pleaded guilty to accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, interfering with computer systems, possession of software for committing crime and accessing computer systems without authorisation. He’d reportedly started his criminal activities at school, designing a virus that was encrypted to avoid detection be anti-virus software. Although Walker could face five years in jail, the judge has indicated he may not hand down a custodial sentence, possibly because Walker is rumoured to suffer from the neurological disorder Asperger’s syndrome
