Nguyễn Quỳnh Thanh
Nguyễn Quỳnh Thanh | |
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 | |
| Born | 13 June 1999 |
| Other names | CyberCatGirl |
| Education | TNTL-PI Haigia |
| Call sign | puRRBl0550m |
| Motive | Unknown |
| Criminal charge |
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Capture status | Apprehended |
| Partner(s) | Vulpine Buffalo |
| Imprisoned at | Imperial and Royal Penitentiary, Cao Khoát |
| CyberCatGirl | |
|---|---|
 Thanh in a sketch by Ngô Thịnh Cường, 2018; this also was chosen as the channel's icon | |
| Durianist information | |
| Also known as |
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| Channel | id.durian.com/cybercatgirl |
| Years active | 2016 – present |
| Genre |
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| Subscribers | 135 thousand |
| Total views | 14.1 million |
Nguyễn Quỳnh Thanh (born 13 June 1999) is a Quenminese hacker, internet personality and Durianist who was convicted for her participation in the 2020 CECOINAS cyberattack.
Early life
Thanh was born on 13 June 1999 in Hason. Her father was a civil servant and her mother a university professor in anthropology. She moved to and grew up in Haigia where her mother was transferred to lecture at Haigia University.
Thanh's interest in computer science began when she accompanied her mother in her lectures when she was ten. On her mother's break, Thanh went to the library and picked out a book related to Java programming language. She would bring it with her to school to spend her time waiting for her parents to pick her up. Subsequently, at the age of eleven, Thanh would start coding programs.
Hacking
TNTL-PI Haigia
Being proficient at computer science given her adeptness in Java and mathematics, she enrolled in the Tầm Nhìn Tương Lai Polytechnic Institute, Haigia (TNTL-PI Haigia), one of the most renowned secondary education institutes in the country. Although excelling on courses related to her expertise, she eventually encountered issues with chemistry and literature, with the former being one that she would dislike vehemently.
At age 17, during her free time from school and friends in her fall semester of junior year, Thanh would pick up on books and free online courses on pentesting and hacking; one of those books was the The Art of Deceptive Intrusion by Uất Khắc Tuấn, who she considers her inspirational idol. She would often stay up late mastering the concepts and skills of the subject, sleeping as late as 4:00 AM, much to her parents' concern; her friends also noted how exhausted she looked despite her energetic behavior. When it came to spending time with her friends, Thanh would also make jokes on how she would hack onto the school servers.
On 7 April 2015, Thanh managed to hack into her chemistry teacher's website and onto the servers to obtain the username and password for her teacher's Professtructure account where she vandalized the green sheet and course syllabus and uploaded copies of meme videos and images to the class page's repository. She was suspended for a week following this incident, despite calls for expulsion; Thanh was also imposed an Internet curfew that ran from 10:00 PM to 7:00 PM, to which her parents were obliged to uphold.
2020 CECOINAS cyberattack
In her sophomore year in the Haigia Institute of Science and Technology, Thanh would befriend Tống Thụy Miên and Douachi Nu Kong from her information security class. They would become members of the university's information security club and attend hackathons together. While attending the Junocoin and Iriseum Hackathon, Thanh became acquainted with Neng Ndrua Nhia and Damanjote Hari, students from the rival Đức Khểnh University, and remained in contact with them.
Later on, they would be members of a hacker group designated as the "Vulpine Buffalo" by CECOINAS for their infamous cyberattack on the intelligence agency. On 16 February 2020, Thanh along with the rest of her friends hacked onto the email accounts of the Director-General, the Director of Signals Intelligence and the Director of Information Assurance. Upon doing so, they stole classified documents linked to their names and occupations.
Online career
Thanh created a Durian channel on 19 March 2016 dedicated to gaming. Named CyberCatGirl, it would attain over 135 thousand subscribers and 14.1 million views by the 15 June 2020.
She is noted for her ebullient and confident personality in her streams and videos. Alongside this, Thanh would often wear a metallic headband with electric cat ears with a futuristic dark blue and grey plugsuit. These have contributed to her popular image, and would consequently become the channel's namesake.
Her content focused mostly on gaming, with Let's Plays and playthroughs of Sierra Echo Three: Strategic Assault and Deadly Leaves III: Wrath of the Fox comprising a majority of her videos. Occasionally, she would record vlogs, starting on her first year of university. Regarding uploads, she would typically publish them on Fridays and Saturdays.
Conviction and fame
Thanh was apprehended in her apartment on 28 February 2020 by the Haigia Police Department. Along with her partners, they are currently held in the Imperial and Royal Penitentiary, Cao Khoát.
On 15 April, CECOINAS disclosed information of the secret trial that admitted her incarceration, exposing her to the media and the Internet. From this, Thanh would attain online fame from numerous fan drawings and memes revolving around her Internet personality and her recent cybercrime.
Thanh became notably popular on the Gylian internet, where users perceived her as a "wicked" figure, especially on account of her eccentric image. One popular meme depicted her as an apprentice or partner-in-crime of Aurelia Nyşel.
In Akashi, the Future Party introduced a motion in the National Assembly protesting against the police's treatment of Thanh, condemning it as an "over-reaction" and an attempt to "make an example" of her through harsh conditions in custody.