Teen hacks oil tankers for fun, Italy doesn’t get the joke

An Italian teenager hacked into the Ministry of Education to change his grades, but that wasn’t enough. The 15-year-old then infiltrated maritime systems to re-route ships in the Mediterranean – just because he can.

Hackers usually have some kind of MO when breaking into systems, whether it is for financial gain or hacking systems to spread a wider socio-political message.

Some hackers, however, just want to have fun, and that’s what one Italian teenager did when he re-routed oil tankers and other ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

The 15-year-old hacker didn’t begin his journey there. The teen started by hacking into the Ministry of Education and Merit in Italy to change the grades on his report cards from 5 to 6 (F to E), local media reports.

While he could’ve changed his report cards from F to A, it seems that the thrill of breaking into a system and altering it slightly was more rewarding than securing a high grade on the subjects he had fallen behind on.

But that wasn’t enough for the young hacker, who seemed to want to attract the attention of Italian law enforcement.

So, the student decided, for whatever reason, to hack into a system where he could re-route ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

The hacker managed to change the scheduled routes of oil tankers from the comfort of his bedroom without any sophisticated equipment, according to a report from Corriere Di Bologna.

IT experts worked tirelessly to identify the hacker who had infiltrated the maritime system.

Eventually, it was discovered that a teenager from the small city of Cesena, Italy, had managed to break into the system and re-route the ships.

Due to his age, the teenager's case was reported to the Juvenile Court of Bologna, which will later decide the 15-year-old's fate. However, whether any action has been taken thus far is unknown.

Once the news broke and it was revealed that the teenager had broken into the Ministry of Education, the department clarified that "Checks carried out did not reveal any access or violations in the information systems of the Ministry of Education and Merit.”

It’s likely that the 15-year-old accessed the electronic register, which isn’t controlled by the Ministry of Education.

However, it is unknown as to how the teenager managed to re-route ships in the Mediterranean Sea and whether there was any damage to these systems.