‘We’ve helped in everything from catching terrorists to stopping wars to saving lives’

Kelly O’Brien on Kilkenny man Walter O’Briens rise from teenage hacker to US government troubleshooter.

A former child prodigy turned high-profile hacker, Walter O’Brien, aka Scorpion, has a life story you wouldn’t believe.

It’s so fantastical, in fact, many don’t. Admittedly, hearing someone claim they hacked Nasa when they were 13 and not only got away with it, but were rewarded for it too, can be a tough pill to swallow but, for every one of his detractors, Walter has hundreds, if not thousands, of fans eagerly proclaiming his sincerity — largely thanks to the successful CBS show Scorpion, which is loosely based on his life.