Hackers 'responsible' for $834 million of illegal deforestation in the Amazon

In what has come as a shocking revelation, it appears that hi-tech hackers have played an instrumental role in the illegal deforestation of 1.7million cubic meters of the Amazon rain forest. According to reports from environmental organization Greenpeace, the hackers were hired by at least 107 different companies to access and alter timber export records held by the Brazilian government. As a result, it's estimated that an area of forest the size of 780 Olympic swimming pools has been cleared illegally. The allegations center on the Brazilian state of Para which uses a computer-only system to monitor deforestation and issue logging permits to local companies. At the present time, any logging or charcoal company working in the state is allocated a maximum amount of timbre that it is allowed to fell in any one year, details of which are issued in the form of a series of permits. Once a company has fulfilled this annual quota, no further timber transport permits will be issued by the local authorities. However, it is these records that the hackers have accessed and altered, allowing a vast amount of timbre to be felled illegally. Federal prosecutor Daniel Avelino is currently mounting a law suit against the companies involved in the scam, with 202 individuals facing prosecution at this stage. Working on behalf of the Brazilian government he intends to sue the subversive companies for a total of 2billion reais ($834 million), the market value of the illegally felled timber. Speaking on behalf of Greenpeace, André Muggiati, an environmental campaigner working in Manaus, commented. "We've pointed out before that this method of controlling the transport of timber was subject to fraud. And this is only the tip of the iceberg, because the same computer system is also used in two other Brazilian states. "By hacking into the permit system, these companies have made their timber shipments appear legal and compliant with the forest management plans. But in reality, they're trading illegal timber which is making the problem of deforestation worse, and a lack of control and policing in the areas they're logging means they think they can get away with it."