14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese police filed charges last Wednesday, March 11, against a sixteen-year-old teen who launched DDoS attacks that took down 444 schools in the Osaka district.
Because he's a minor, the police have not released the teen's name, but they have said that, last November, he launched a DDoS attack against the server of the Osaka Board of Educations.
The server housed the websites of all the district's institutions, which faced downtime following the attack. In total, the kid managed to bring down the websites of 444 elementary, junior high, and high schools in the Osaka area.
The kid wanted revenge, to teach professors a lesson
The suspect is in high school now, but at the time of the attacks, he was in junior high school.
He told police that he only wanted his own school's website to go down and didn't know other institutions were also affected.
Seeing that the school's website wouldn't load on his phone, happy with his success, the kid launched several more attacks afterward. Most of them lasted for around one hour.
The teen told police that he didn't do it for any hacktivism campaign, but only for personal revenge.
"I hate how the teachers talk down to us and never let us express ourselves. So, I thought I would remind them of their own incompetence. It felt good to see them have problems. I did it several times," the kid told police, quoted by Japan Today.
Following the investigation, police seized his computer and filed official charges. The kid now faces up to three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 yen ($4,500).
The kid wants to be an Anonymous member (when he grows up)
Investigators presume the teenager downloaded special software on his computer to carry out his attacks.
In statements made to Japanese police, the teen also admitted to wanting to join the Anonymous hacking group.
This statement might cost the kid in court because the Anonymous hacking group is despised in Japan, especially at the government level.
Anonymous hackers have many times launched DDoS attacks against Japanese Government officials, government portals, local government portals, and Japanese private businesses.
The reason behind these attacks is Japan's practice of whale hunting and mass dolphin slaughter. #OpWhales and #OpKillingBay are the Anonymous operations that deal with these sensitive issues.