Dutch teens recruited on Telegram, accused of Russia-backed hacking plot

According to local media reports, two 17-year-olds have been arrested by Dutch authorities on suspicion of spying for pro-Russian hackers.

The teenagers, who have not been named by police because of their age, were reportedly arrested last week "on suspicion that are linked to government-sponsored interference."

According to reports, the father of one of the boys claimed that his son had been contacted by hackers via the Telegram encrypted chat messaging service, and had walked around areas of The Hague in the vicinity of the headquarters of Europol and Eurojust as well as several embassies with a Wi-Fi-sniffer that maps networks.

The Canadian embassy in The Hague was allegedly one of the organisations targeted by the duo.

AIVD, the Dutch intelligence agency, is said to have tipped off police about the two young individuals, which resulted in a raid of the teenagers' homes by law enforcement officers wearing balaclavas.

The father of one of the boys told NL Times that his house was raided without warning, and evidence seized for examination.

News of the arrests made headline news in the Netherlands, where Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof claimed that the incident fell into a pattern of attacks by Russia against Europe. "It's extremely worrying that ... these children are being used for this," he told journalists.

Schoof is right. State-backed hackers have no qualms about hiring so-called "disposable agents" through anonymous chat services like Telegram because connections are much harder to trace.

If a group of pro-Russian hackers did recruit teenagers via Telegram to do their dirty-work for them, then it is because they were likely simple to recruit, cheap to deploy, and easy to abandon if they were caught.

The risk for young people is that whether they were curious, thrill-seeking, or simply looking for validation in the online hacking community, that they could face serious consequences if found guilty of committing any crimes.

There is a chance that governments will treat teens recruited via the likes of Telegram to be criminals or victims, or perhaps even both.

Although the legal system is likely to treat those who are still minors more leniently, the consequences can still be life-altering.

Meanwhile, the children's handlers are likely to vanish into ether, and escape any form of justice.

Dutch prosecution service spokesperson Brechtje van de Moosdijk has said that the investigation is ongoing.

One of the teenagers remains in custody, while the other has been electronically tagged and put under house arrest. The young men will face a further court hearing behind closed doors in two weeks.