Dutch Charge Teenage Govt Web Site Hacker Suspects
Dutch authorities have charged two teenagers with cyber crimes on suspicion of bringing down government Web sites last month by flooding them with traffic, public prosecutor said on Friday.
The boys from the southern Dutch town of Breda were arrested earlier this week after a raid on their houses in which computers were confiscated. There could be more arrests, the public prosecution service said.
The two are believed to have hacked into other computers to launch a mass visit to government Web sites, which collapsed under the strain.
The attacks on the Web Sites coincided with protests against government plans to overhaul the social security system that drew 250,000 people to a weekend demonstration in Amsterdam.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and other ministers had to change mobile telephone numbers after a list circulated on the Internet invited protesters to send a barrage of text messages.
