Former criminal hacker Bastien Treptel on how he got caught - and how he would exploit AI today

Chris KeallTechnology Editor/Senior Business Writer·NZ Herald·21 Jul, 2026 05:00 AM4 mins to read‌'Black hat hacker' Bastien Treptel parlayed his turn to 'white hack' exploits into a A$100m payday.'Black hat hacker' Bastien Treptel parlayed his turn to 'white hack' exploits into a A$100m payday.Bastien Treptel grew up in Eden, a small town in coastal New South Wales, where his curiosity about gadgets saw him disassembling household electronics like his family’s washing machine. In 1994 – the early days of the web – his grandfather gifted him a PC. The teenage Treptel quickly