Multinational swoop nets two hackers: S.Korea police

Two young hackers have been arrested in the Netherlands and Australia in a multinational operation prompted by tips from a South Korean student, police said Thursday.

A 17-year-old Dutch boy and an Australian teenager were arrested last week in their own countries on suspicion of hacking into servers in nine nations, South Korea's Cyber Terror Response Centre said in a statement.

The centre, part of the National Police Agency, said four Dutch investigators visited Seoul in February after a college student there reported a hacking case involving the server of Dutch telecom firm KPN.

The student told investigators he had read a message in his university chatroom in which the writer claimed to have hacked into KPN.

The centre said KPN, the largest telecom operator in the Netherlands, has taken steps to minimise damage. Based on information from South Korean police, Japan and Australia also launched separate investigations, it said.

The hackers allegedly met in an Internet chatroom and broke into the servers of KPN and universities in South Korea, Japan, Germany, Britain, Norway, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, between December and January, it said.

The purpose of the alleged hacking was unclear.

"This case underlines the importance of international cooperation in cyber crimes," the centre said, adding data would be sent to Dutch police for criminal procedures.