Teen arrested for Heartbleed bug attack on tax agency
A 19-year-old has been arrested in Canada for allegedly hacking into the country's tax collection agency using the Heartbleed bug.
The bug undermined encryption on some websites, allowing possible access to protected information.
It appears to be the first report of an attack exploiting a flaw in the encryption method known as OpenSSL. The Canada Revenue Agency(CRA) said this week that about 900 social insurance numbers and possibly other data had been compromised as a result of an attack on its site.
According to a statement from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Stephen Arthuro Solis-Reyes of London, Ontario was arrested on April 15 at his home: "It is believed that Solis-Reyes was able to extract private information held by the [Canadian Revenue Agency] by exploiting the security vulnerability known as the Heartbleed Bug."
Solis-Reyes' home was searched and his computer seized, but an RCMP spokeswoman said that because the investigation is ongoing she was unable to provide details about what information the suspect allegedly extracted.
