Swedish teenager held over hacks

The source code stolen was key to how net traffic was handled

A Swedish teenager under investigation in relation to hacking into a university system could also be questioned about a US hacker campaign.

Police said the 16-year-old had been questioned about attacks on Uppsala University computers, but not arrested.

They said there had been an "exchange of information" with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about the teen.

In May 2004, Cisco System's source code for machines that direct global net traffic was stolen and put on the net.

The Cisco breach was allegedly part of a broader hacking effort aimed at systems run by US universities and government agencies, according to The New York Times.

Some supercomputer laboratories said in April 2004 that computers connected to the high-speed TeraGrid network had been targeted by hackers.

A spokesperson at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico told the Reuters news agency that it had experienced some external disruption at the time, but that the hackers had not breached any sensitive information.

Working with authorities

Cisco Systems welcomed the detainment of the man.

"We are aware that a person has been detained in Sweden related to the IOS [Internetworking Operating System] source code theft and are encouraged by this action," said a Cisco spokesperson in a statement.

Swedish authorities said they had not had a formal request from the US to question or arrest the teenager, but that they had been in contact regarding his activities.

Cisco confirmed last year that parts of the source code had been copied from its internal systems and posted on a website.

The FBI said it was working with Swedish and British authorities to find out who was responsible.

"As a result of recent actions, the criminal activity appears to have stopped," it said.

British authorities arrested a 20-year-old man last September in connection with the Cisco hacking, but no charges have been made.