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An Australian teenage hacker, Dylan Wheeler is able to flee easily despite having been ordered to take his passport into custody. This has raised serious questions about border security.
Dylan Wheeler, from Perth, was only 17 when he was accused of being a part of a hacking group who hacked computers belonging to the US Army and Microsoft.
The hackers involved in hacking US Army computers are accused of stealing intellectual property worth $US 100 million. Mr Wheeler was sentenced for ten years but fled the country after three years. He says that it was really scary how easily he made way and was able to flee the country.
Mr Wheeler, who is now living in the Czech Republic, told 7:30 that he left Australia as his case went on for about two to three years without reaching anywhere. He also told about the Australian judicial system that they wanted to snatch away his freedom and keep him confined into a room. But he was not at all prepared to give away his human rights.
It was scary for him how he was able to leave the country using his Australian passport because they have a well- defined system called PACE. This system is used at Border Control in order to figure out whether a criminal is trying to leave the country and if yes, it will flag him.
Freedom of Information request undertaken by Mr. Wheeler disclosed that his information was placed on the database six days after he fled. He was being monitored by the authorities since he was 17. On 7.30’s request for an interview, WA Police denied because the case was still technically before the court.
They also tried hiding their mismanagement on how the teenager managed to leave the country despite having ordered to surrender the passport. Since then, Mr. Wheeler’s mother Anna has been arrested on charges of helping his son flee the country, which she already denied.
Troy Hunt, the computer security expert said a large number of youngsters are finding themselves in the same situation as Mr Wheeler. He said that youth gets caught up into such incidents without having any idea about its implications.
Since leaving Australia, Mr. Wheeler claimed to make a good use of his skills by helping the European government protect themselves from various malicious hackers. He is neither afraid of being caught up nor of his past. Mr. Wheeler is firm that he hasn’t committed any crime and the allegations are untrue.
