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UK Teenager Accused Of Hacking CIA Chief

UK Teenager Accused Of Hacking CIA Chief

A British teenager arrested for cyber crimes is suspected of hacking into the head of the CIA's personal email account.

The unnamed 16-year-old was detained in the East Midlands on Tuesday, said the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).

Officers refused to comment on reports he carried out a series of computer attacks against the CIA, FBI and other parts of the US government.

The youngster was arrested as part of an investigation into the data breach of CIA director John Brennan's emails last year, the Daily Telegraph said.

He is suspected of being the mystery hacker called "Cracka" who claimed responsibility for the incident, and part of a group called "Crackas with Attitude" said to be behind a string of other high-profile attacks, it added.

The teenager had his computer and mobile phone seized during his arrest.

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In a statement, SEROCU said: "The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit can confirm we have arrested a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday in the East Midlands on suspicion of conspiracy to commit unauthorised access to computer material."

He was also detained on suspicion of committing other offences under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act, including conspiracy to commit unauthorised acts with intent to impair a computer.

He has been bailed until 6 June pending further inquiries.

The police statement did not identify the targets of his alleged attacks.

The website Motherboard claimed it spoke to the teenager a day after his arrest.

He denied being "Cracka" but said he had been accused by UK police of hacking Mr Brennan and White House officials, it said.

He was also accused of hacking the Department of Justice, resulting in the publication of contact information of around 30,000 FBI and DHS workers.

The CIA and Justice Department declined to comment on the arrest.

Last October, the FBI confirmed Mr Brennan's AOL email account had been attacked.

"Cracka" claimed credit for publishing information from the account, including email addresses and personal information about US intelligence officials.

The WikiLeaks website later republished some of the material .