IES SIERRA de GUADARRAMA
2ºBachillerato
Curso 2012/13
FBI SWOOP ON TEEN HACKERS
Text nº: 1 (Term 2)
Date: 11th Dec. 2012
that the result of their hacking could cost the companies millions.
A local police officer told us, “These two lads are very clever, but
Two teenage hackers have been arrested in a tiny Welsh village.
they are asking for trouble by playing around with big companiesThe FBI swooped on the village after they suspected that the
Hacking is illegal, it’s not a game. They have gone to a lot of trouble
hackers had committed a 2 million pounds international computer
to hack into the websites. They said that they didn’t even want to
fraud.
steal the money but were motivated by the challenge of being able
A team of American detectives discovered the 18 year olds sitting at to do something so difficult. Hacking is not easy.
a computer in one of the boy’s bedrooms. The detectives said that
If prosecuted, the boys, who have been friends since they were
the boys had used the computer to steal credit card information on children, may be extradited to the US. Police say that they will have
the Internet from 23,000 accounts across America, Britain, Japan,
finished their investigations by the end of the year and the court
Canada and Thailand, including that of Bill Gates, the world’s richest system will then decide what happens to them.
man.
Simon Owen, the landlord of a Clynderwen pub, said, “People
The FBI were first alerted to the crime late last year. Yesterday, the around here don’t know much about computers and rarely get into
550 residents of Clynderwen in Wales, woke up to discover that the trouble with the police, so everyone is shocked. It’s the last thing
fraud had been traced to their sleepy village.
you’d expect in a quiet village like this.”
Last night, one of the two troublemakers said, “I knew the man
was from the FBI because he spoke with an American accent and
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------was wearing a trenchcoat. I knew then that we were in big
1. Are the following statements true or false? Give evidence from
trouble.”
the text.
“Eight local police officers came with him to arrest us. It was an
unusual sight in Clynderwen”, said the other youth, after both of
a) The two hackers come from a very busy place in Wales with
them had declared to the police.
a lot of inhabitants.
An FBI spokesperson said in Washington last night that the boys
b) One of the teen hackers recognized the FBI agent because
had been arrested in connection with intrusions into nine eof his way of speaking and appearance.
commerce websites in five countries around the world. She said
2. Using your own ideas, and based on ideas from the text answer
the following questions.
a) What was the main motivation of the teen hackers?
b) What was the reaction of the people who live in Clynderwen
when they heard about the crime?
3. Synonyms. Find words in the text that mean the same as the
following definitions or expressions.
a) To make someone return for trial to another country
where they have been accused of doing something
illegal.
b) To officially accuse someone of committing a crime in a
court of law.
c) Young boys.
d) Inhabitants.
4. Change these sentences into reported speech.
a) One of the troublemakers said, “I knew the man was from
the FBI.”
b) The landlord said, “People here are not used to work with
computers and everybody seems to be shocked.”
c) The youth explained, “Several police officers came with the
agent to arrest us yesterday.”
SPEAKING
Discuss the following topics.
Do you know anyone who is always getting into trouble? What for?
Who do you think the biggest troublemakers in society are?