Canadian boy, 12, attacks government, police websites for hacker group Anonymous 'in exchange for games'

A 12-YEAR-OLD boy is responsible for hacking government and police websites during a 2012 student uprising, a Canada court has heard.

A fifth grader hacked sites for activist group Anonymous in exchange for video games, a court has heard. Picture: Thinkstock

A 12-YEAR-OLD boy is responsible for hacking government and police websites during a 2012 student uprising, a Canada court has heard.

The boy from Montreal, who cannot be named, created computer havoc and caused an estimated $60,000 damage, the Toronto Sun reports. His actions put some of the sites out of service for up to two days.

The fifth grade student was acting on behalf of activist hacker group Anonymous, but his actions were not politically motivated – he was trading the information in exchange for video games, the court heard.

Others have reportedly been arrested for the attacks, but it was the boy who opened the door to enable them, the court was told.

He appeared in juvenile court dressed in his school uniform, accompanied by his father, and pleaded guilty to three charges related to hacking of websites.

The accused had been involved with computers since the age of nine and allegedly used three different computer attacks in 2012; one which resulted in a denial of service to those trying to access the websites and flooded servers, making them ineffective.

In another method he would alter information and make it appear as the homepage.

His third tactic involved exploiting security holes in order to access database servers.

"And he told others how to do it," a police expert testified on Thursday.

"He saw it as a challenge, he was only 12 years old," his lawyer said. "There was no political purpose."