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TinKode suspect apprehended in Romania

Police believe they've caught TinKode, the hacker who has claimed hits on US and UK Government websites.

1 Feb 2012

Romanian authorities have arrested a man they believe to be notorious hacker TinKode.

A 20 year old named Razvan Manole Cernaianu has been taken in by police under suspicion of attacking US Government servers, including those at the Pentagon and NASA.

TinKode's motivation has been more about mischief-making than the more malicious attacks we often see.

He has also been accused by the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) of selling a program designed to attack the US Government website, showing a video on his blog of websites he successfully hacked.

"In my estimation over the last few years TinKode's motivation has been more about mischief-making than the more malicious attacks we often see, fueled by a desire for publicity via his active Twitter and Facebook accounts," said senior technology consultant for Sophos, Graham Cluley, in a blog post.

"Perhaps now is a good time to remind everyone who thinks it's cool or amusing to expose an organisation's weak security that hacking into a site is still a crime, regardless of what your incentive may be."

Back in late 2010, TinKode claimed responsibility for downing the UK's Royal Navy website. He claimed to have done so with an SQL injection attack, asserting that he acquired usernames and passwords to different sections of the website, although the Royal Navy refuted the suggestion any classified information was taken.

TinKode was one of two hackers who claimed they were behind an SQL injection hit on Oracle-owned MySQL.com in early 2011.