Qld man charged with hacking offences

A 21-year old Queensland man has been charged with hacking and fraud offences after allegedly breaking into the network of a US game development company.

Photo courtesy Queensland Police

The Kingaroy man was arrested by the Queensland Police Service's fraud and cyber crime group yesterday following several months spent forensically examining laptops and a hard drive seized during a search of the man's home last November.

A number of other items - which police said were located within an "encrypted container on a computer device" - were also seized during a search conducted yesterday at a separate property in Poona, some 216km away.

Police allege the 21-year old unlawfully accessed the game developer’s network and its associated databases and files, as well as its Twitter account which police say he used to post screenshots of information obtained from the company’s networks. 

Police also claim the man then created a website offering paid access to data on the company’s player database.

Police investigated the man with the help of the US FBI as well as the company involved, which initially notified Queensland Police of the alleged offence.

He will reappear in a local magistrates court on April 8, charged with three counts of computer hacking and misuse and six individual counts of fraud, relating to dishonestly obtaining property belonging to someone else and applying it to his own use, dishonestly causing detriment and possessing equipment for the purpose of an offence. 

Queensland Police has been approached for further comment.