Dutch teens detained over alleged WiFi sniffing for Russia

Police in the Netherlands arrested two 17-year-olds last week over allegations that they were spying on the headquarters of European law enforcement agencies after being recruited by Russian intelligence.

According to local media, the teenagers had been observed for a few months. In mid-August, one of them was seen carrying a “WiFi sniffer” near the headquarters of Europol and the EU criminal investigation agency Eurojust in The Hague. He also approached the Canadian embassy.

Both teens are Dutch nationals. According to the Telegraph daily, the father of one of the detainees said that his son was recruited on Telegram by a pro-Russian hacker.

“My son doesn’t go out, he has a job at a supermarket and shows no desire to explore the world,” the father said, also describing his son as a fanatical gamer, good with computers, and fascinated by hacking.

One of the teenagers will remain in custody for two weeks, and the other one is currently under house arrest. He’s been given an electronic tag.

This is the first case of its kind in the Netherlands. However, the government of neighboring Germany recently kicked off a campaign to warn off youngsters from becoming “disposable agents.”

Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office said that Russian intelligence services use social media to recruit people for espionage or sabotage.

They often have no idea who is paying for these low-level missions like spreading pro-Russian propaganda, arranging drone overflights, or scoping out people or property.

A “WiFi sniffer” is a device designed to identify and intercept WiFi networks.

A “WiFi sniffer” is a device designed to identify and intercept WiFi networks. A customized packet analyzer – a software program, but also sometimes a hardware tool – captures data over wireless networks and decodes it.

To be fair, wireless sniffers are used for many legitimate actions, including detecting, investigating, and diagnosing network problems or vulnerabilities. However, they can also be used by malicious attackers to harvest confidential data and sensitive company information.

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