Hackers Around the World: Australian RAT S3rver Enthusiast

This week’s interview from our series called Hackers around the world features a 13-year-old hacker from Australia who already made quite an impression on the international hacking scene after breaching Sony Pictures, Zuffa’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and some major government sites.

S3rver.exe, the hacker in question, was kind enough to provide details on when he started his hacking career and how he managed to become part of a few major Anonymous operations at such a young age.

Softpedia: This is a question I ask all hackers. What is the significance of your hacker name and why did you choose this name?

S3rver.exe: I chose this name, s3rver.exe, because I really like Botnets and Rats and when you create a RAT Server it comes out as server.exe. That’s how I choose that name.

Server.exe is also a malicious virus.

Softpedia: When and why did you start hacking?

S3rver.exe: I started hacking when I was 11. Botnets and Rats inspired me and then a friend introduced me to SQL injection and other hacking stuff.

Basically, I started hacking because I saw many videos and news around the world about hacking and then I also wanted to learn. I made heaps of Internet friends and they taught me some tricks.

And I guess hacking is my type because I really like computers and I want to get a job in computing.

Softpedia: What kind of hacker do you consider yourself to be? Have you always been what you are now?

S3rver.exe: I consider myself as a Grey Hat because I like helping out people who are in trouble. I really like Botnets, but I am not that kind of guy who steals money from credit cards and stuff.

Yeah, I was always like this. My skills got better and better this year. At first I didn’t really know how to hack but tutorials and videos helped me a lot.

Mainly, I am a grey hat hacker because I like helping out people, so if they have trouble with anything I can help them, and they can also improve their skills by that.

Softpedia: How many sites would you say you’ve hacked so far and how many have you DDOS'ed?

S3rver.exe: I have hacked about 150 websites. 81 of the hacked websites belong to the Brazilian and the US government.

I don’t like DDOS'ing that much, but this is the part where I use my botnet. I took down about 120 websites including Fbi.gov and Mastercard.

I have DDOS'ed many websites with Anonymous, but people were helping DDOS the big sites.

Softpedia: Tell me more about this botnet. How did you manage to make a botnet?

S3rver.exe: I have got many botnets (zeus, spyeye , optima DDOS botnet and IRC botnets). I leant to set them up from private forums.

Some of them were not easy to setup because I wasn’t very good at that time, but now I know how to set them up. It’s easy!

The Blackhole exploit kit helped me spread the Malicious Botnet Server.

Softpedia: You're practically a gray hat that relies on the resources normally used by a black hat.

S3rver.exe: Yeah , but I don’t use the botnets for stealing money and stuff. I just use them for DDOS attacks.

Softpedia: Are you part of Anonymous or are you an independent hacker that supports the cause?

S3rver.exe: Yeah, I am part of Anonymous. I have taken part in a lot of operations with Anonymous.

I first heard about Anonymous when the PSN was hacked and my friend told me that there is a video on YouTube on how to join them. Then I saw their IRC and there was a channel where I asked people if they can tell me how I can help.

After I learned how, I helped DDOS websites, and then I learned SQL injection and defacing.

Softpedia: Which was the most important site you breached or the most important operation you were part of?

S3rver.exe: I have breached the Administrator of usa.gov yesterday. That was fun. I went through the directories and stuff. Me and my friend Sterlok breached the security.

Then I did a live deface on UFC.com and UFC.tv. The live deface was on Tinychat. I was sharing my screen and people were watching me deface.

Now I have XSS'ed OPOA, which is the Oakland Police website. I am going to release their stuff soon.

So those were really important to me.

Softpedia: Where did you learn all your computer skills? From school or did you learn everything on your own?

S3rver.exe: I learnt on my own. I watched tutorials on YouTube, I googled stuff and I came across many blogs which had hacking tutorials. I just discovered more and more stuff.

Every day I would discover something new and that’s how I learnt, no one taught me.

Softpedia: What about your day-to-day life? What hobbies do you have besides hacking?

S3rver.exe: I have a really good life outside the internet world. I like to Skate, Scoot, Surfing, Building Stuff and I like helping people.

I am always curious about stuff like how does this work and how to build one. So yeah, I love my life :D.

Softpedia: In the long run, where do you see yourself in about 10-15 years?

S3rver.exe: I see myself in a good job, making a lot of money as an Ethical Hacker for a big company. Or I might join the Australian Cyber Army.

I am taking Ethical Hacking classes in a month.

I don’t want a lame job like most of the kids. They work at like Subway, Hungry Jack’s. I want a good, decent job.

Softpedia: Do you think you'll ever quit hacking? I mean after you get that decent job you want.

S3rver.exe: No, I can’t stop hacking. It is so addicting that I just can’t stop. And I am probably the youngest good hacker at the moment and some people don’t believe that I am so young.

Softpedia: Do you ever worry about the consequences of your hacking jobs? Most gray hats say they're not worried because they don't think they're doing anything wrong, or they consider that they're not causing too much damage.

S3rver.exe: When I breached my first sites, I was like ‘what will happen?’, ‘will I be ok?’, or ‘will I get caught?’, but it’s not that scary now.

I am not that worried :)

I always have a reason to hack a website, I am not like just going on a random deface rampage.